Sailor Moon's Fate
by Talent Scout
Summary: Sailor Moon gets taken by Rube (a brother of Rubius) and is turned evil will Darien change her back without having to kill her
1. SMTVVTOTM1

SAILORMOON'S FAITH: THE VICE-VERCA TALE OF TUXEDO MASK  
  
  
The Fate of Sailormoon:  
  
The Vice-versa Tale of Tuxedo Mask  
  
"Come on, Amy," said Mina, "did you find out anything about Rube and the entrance to the Negamoon? We need the info fast."  
  
Amy was rapidly and impatiently typing in her mini-data computer as she replied to her friends, "Well, these things take time. I promise that I'll let you guys knows of what's new about Rube and the Negamoon."  
  
Serena and the rest of her friends were at Raye's temple trying to conduct a analysis about the Negamoon. Serena was looking over Amy's shoulder, but at the same time was reading one of Raye's comic books without notifying her. She suddenly started to laugh. Everyone else jumped to Serena's sudden laughter and stared at her.  
  
Serena showed the comic to her friends and pointed out, "Can you believe how funny this part is! It's a killer!" She laughed hysterically.  
  
"Hey, that's one of my new comic books! I haven't read that one yet!" cried Raye.  
  
"Then you won't mind if I keep it," responded Serena.  
  
"No way, Serena!" disagreed Raye. She jumped and tried to grab her comic book away from Serena.  
  
Luna sighed, "Oh boy."  
  
"Here we go again," chuckled Artemis.  
  
Lita, Mina, and Amy just sighed, but Amy just went back to her analyzing on her mini-data computer.   
  
* * *  
  
Back in Rube's headquarters of the Negamoon, he was thinking evilly,  
  
"Hmm, it is near the time where I am desperate to have Sailormoon on my side. I need her, so I could defeat the rest of the Sailorscouts. I want to see Tuxedo Mask suffer without his girlfriend in sight. Yeah, sounds fishy; I'm practically in love with a human being; a particular beautiful one that happens to annoy me in the future!" He paused from thinking, and then continued,  
  
"That Sailormoon; caused me so many problems, including her pretty scout friends. My brother Rubius was so close to be rid of her when Droid-Hypnotica casted an eternal sleeping spell on her. Unfortunately, Tuxedo Mask was notified, and she was saved. Ooh, I just hate the smell of defeat! Now, I have to plot out my plan to capture Sailormoon and perhaps destroy the other scouts, too. As I recall, Queen Barrel has set captured Tuxedo Mask before to be on her side. Maybe I'll use the similar method that she used to capture Sailormoon. Heh, I can already picture Tuxedo Mask's expression when I capture this blonde. Let's set this to work. All I need to do is to lure the Sailormoon, the Scouts, and Tuxedo Mask in one place to let my plan work all at once. I'll need the perfect people and set up. This is going to be a treat! Once I get Sailormoon, I'll have the silver crystal and I'll get that kid Renee!" Rube chuckled, and agreed with himself, "YES!"  
  
* * *  
  
The next day, the girls met again at Raye's temple.   
  
"Hey, Raye," suggested Lita, "why don't you do a fire reading? Maybe that will be a faster way to find out what the Negaverse is up to."  
  
Raye, who was dressed in her temple robe, nodded, "Oh sure, but I think that only fire could tell me so much. I mean, Amy's little mini-data computer probably has more exact measures to this Negaverse."  
  
"Yes, well I think my computer might not be able to have enough memory to go so fast," replied Amy.  
  
"Hey you guys," requested Mina, "why don't you and Amy do the analysis? We can have more information that way."  
  
"Good idea," spoke up Serena.  
  
So all of the girls followed Raye into the fire-reading room. Raye sat down on the fire-reading mat while her friends sat on the cushions behind her. Raye crossed her legs, closed her eyes, got her hands set, and then concentrated her powers. She commanded to the fire (which was a big flame partly surrounded by lined-through stacked round branches which were the size of an average wrist),  
  
"I call upon you, fire of Mars; lend us your strength; tell us more about this Negaverse, our enemy." She did some hand movements and then paused as she concentrated harder. Suddenly, the fire wildly flared up higher and stronger. There was a wisp of fiery air that flared at Raye but she didn't open her eyes. She said to her friends without turning around to face them,   
  
"The fire could get some reading on the entrance to the Negamoon where Rube is. It seems that the main one is right around here, at this temple."  
  
Serena sat up straight as she asked, "Do you see any attacks near this temple soon, Raye? Do we need to guard this temple often?"  
  
"Hold on," replied Raye. She did some more concentrating and then replied to Serena and her friends,  
  
"I think I saw an attack around this time in the future. It seems like the next battle is going to be a few days from now, but I'm not so sure. And I'll be well rounded if there's anything suspicious lurking around this temple. I usually should have some vision when something majorly bad happens."  
  
"Alright," answered Mina and Serena.  
  
Raye sat up straight and replied, "I don't think that the Negaverse could open up the hole to destroy anything when I'm up here. Good thing that school's over and I could watch this place often."  
  
"I think that we could use Mercury's VR-Visor to scan the place. It came in pretty handy quite a few times," suggested Lita.  
  
"It might work. We've got to give it a try," persuaded Serena.  
  
Mina glanced over at Amy and the rest of her friends.  
  
"But you guys," reasoned Mina, "we have to transform to use Mercury's VR-Visor to scan this area."  
  
"Oh well. It doesn't matter," replied Amy. "As long if it has something to do with Sailor business, it doesn't matter, right Luna?"  
  
Luna glanced at Artemis and then answered, "Right, Amy."  
  
"Yeah, I say go for it," responded Artemis.  
  
"Why don't we all transform? That way we could guard each other," suggested Mina.  
  
"Alright," agreed everyone. Everyone then transformed.  
  
"Mars, star, power!"  
  
"Mercury, star, power!"  
  
"Jupiter, star, power!"  
  
"Venus, star, power!"  
  
After the girls finished transforming, they jogged outside to the place where the hole was detected. Mercury stepped forward and turned on her VR-Visor. She started to scan around the place as well as she was using her mini-data computer. The rest of the scouts split up in that open area behind the temple and started to search for anything that seemed suspicious. Since it was near night time, the temple started to get dim and started to darken up.   
  
After of what seemed to be a long time, Mercury spoke up.  
  
"Wait you guys, I think I have something," Mercury called out. She typed in some more information into her computer and then replied, "My computer says that the strongest force of weird energy is located there, in open of the grove of birch trees. Maybe we should search over there."  
  
""Alright Mercury!" congratulated Venus.  
  
"Yeah, great job!" complimented Sailormoon.  
  
All of the scouts then followed Mercury as she walked toward to the detected area. They were all on their best guard for anything from the Negaverse.  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, Rube back in the Negaverse was spying on the scouts.   
  
"So, the Sailorscouts detected and found the main entrance to the Negamoon to part of my headquarters," snarled Rube. "They want to pay me a visit? Maybe this plan is working out better than I thought. All I need to do is to keep them out of here! I need to get to the scouts first and get them. I then would separate take Sailormoon back with me here. Maybe if I'm lucky enough, I could lure in Tuxedo Mask and get him too! He always shows up just in time to save his precious Sailor girlfriends! Finally, I'm gonna get him! Him and the rest of those pretty Sailorscouts! Then, the power of the Negamoon can take over Crystal Tokyo!"  
  
* * *  
  
After a while of tracking and examining the area of where Mars and Mercury detected, the scouts were about to give up when Rube appeared before them.  
  
"Hello, Sailorscouts," greeted Rube, evilly.  
  
The Scouts jumped as Jupiter interrogated, "What are you doing here?"  
  
Rube stood straight up and answered, "I just wanted to say good-bye to all of you scouts, since I'm gonna destroy you now!"  
  
Jupiter looked angered.  
  
"Think again, butt-head!" she declared. "All good-bye to whoever it is, is you!"  
  
"Yeah, you and your Negamoon are going to be gone!" cried Mercury.  
  
"Prepare your world to eat flames, Negacreep!" proclaimed Mars.  
  
"And we'll make sure that you and your world never bother us again!" assured Venus.  
  
Rube just chuckled, "Pathetic. All of you Sailorscouts are no match for the power of the Negamoon. I'm really going to enjoy destroying all of you, especially you, Sailormoon!"  
  
Sailormoon backed up, scared.  
  
From out of nowhere, a familiar voice cried, "Try to bother someone else, Negaskum! Leave the girls out of this!"  
  
Just then, Tuxedo Mask jumped down from a nearby tree and stood in front of the Scouts.  
  
"Oh, but I have a special place just for you Tuxedo Mask! I've been waiting fro this moment for a long time! This is going to be a treat in the future of Crystal Tokyo!" Rube retorted.  
  
"Huh?" asked the Sailorscouts and Tuxedo Mask.  
  
Rube flew up in the air and opened a porthole. He gestured toward it.  
  
"Go on in, Sailorscouts and Tuxedo Mask!" offered Rube. He himself then disappeared.  
  
The Scouts and Tuxedo Mask looked at each other as they nodded their heads in agreement.  
  
"We're on our way!" declared Sailormoon.  
  
The Scouts and Tuxedo Mask ran into the porthole. After they entered, the dimension was black. No one could see anything. But suddenly, there was a pink flash of swirling light. Everyone shaded their eyes as they paused from running. After they opened their eyes, they saw that they were in a foggy, illusional place.  
  
"Where-- are we?" asked Sailormoon.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Tuxedo Mask.  
  
Mercury turned on her VR-Visor and took out her mini-data computer. She started to examine the place. After a few moments, she replied, "It looks like we're in a multi-complex dimension, like a time-morph and negative space. Looks like our duel with Rube and his Negamoon is about right here."  
  
Sailormars peered over Mercury's shoulder. So did the rest of the Sailorscouts and Tuxedo Mask. Suddenly, Mercury looked up ahead of her.  
  
"Hold it," halted Mercury.   
  
"Huh?" asked everyone.  
  
"Some type of life form, straight ahead," pointed Mercury.  
  
Venus glanced at her friends and suggested, "Well, let's go check it out, you guys."  
  
"Right," agreed everyone.  
  
"Sailormercury," called out Tuxedo Mask. Everyone started to run toward the detected place.  
  
"Yes, Tuxedo Mask, what is it?" responded Mercury.  
  
Darien kept up in running along with the other Sailorscouts, and then asked, "I'm getting a bit confused. We are looking in for a duel with Rube right? But where exactly are we going?"  
  
Mercury kept typing and scanning while she was running and responded, "Well, we're hoping to find Rube and duel with him. I detect some weird power from a strange dimension from my computer. We'll be there shortly."  
  
Sailormoon, who was practically ready to rest, requested, "Good. When we get there, I want to rest. I getting pretty tired."  
  
"Hang on," said Jupiter.  
  
Mars, who was using her vision and mind power, then pointed out, "We're almost there. I can feel it! My power says that this is going to be a strange cause to be in."  
  
"Yeah, let's hope that this duel with Rube and his henchmen isn't going to be too dangerous," replied Sailorvenus, almost out of breath.  
  
After a few more minutes of rapid running, the Sailorscouts and Tuxedo Mask stopped. They realized the atmosphere that they have just been in has just changed into an eye-confusing and primarily dark place. Mercury stepped forward, and continued to analyze the place. Sailorjupiter had prepared herself in fighting stance and strolled around. Sailorvenus casually walked around and examining the place. Mars calmed and relaxed herself, closed her eyes, and just then tried to feel if there were any strange powers there in place. Sailormoon just backed up with Darien, but they also helped the other Sailorscouts to keep their guard up.  
  
Suddenly, a pink cloud bursted before them as everyone froze. Rube appeared before them.   
  
"So Sailorscouts, are you all ready to lose? Finally, I'll be rid of you all!" testified Rube.  
  
Sailormoon stepped forward bravely, and talked back, "Don't be so sure! We'll fight to the end, Negacreep! We'll see who's the losers!"  
  
Rube lowered himself and snorted, "When I get you Sailormoon, I could then finally have the Silver Imperium Crystal! And I could have you fighting be my side! Now what do you say, come with me now, so I won't douse your friends. It'll save a lot of time!"  
  
"I'll never work for you!" cried Sailormoon.  
  
Rube then scowled, "You'll regret that you didn't come with me, Sailormoon! I'll make sure of it!" He then disappeared.  
  
"Huh?" asked everyone.  
  
"Where did he go?" questioned Darien. Everyone looked around.  
  
All of a sudden, six dark shadows formed before everyone. The Scouts and Darien took fighting stance. The creatures just charged forward slowly. From out of nowhere, Rube appeared again, saying, "Enjoy the smell of defeat, humans!"  
  
Sailormoon, who was in front of everyone, gasped, "Ewww! Those creatures have disgusting tree branchy arms!"  
  
"Well, we're going to fight them, Sailormoon!" replied Tuxedo Mask, impatiently.  
  
"Ready?" Sailormoon inquired.  
  
"Ready!" responded everyone else.  
  
Jupiter stepped forward and cried, "Sailorscouts CHARGE!"  
  
All of the Scouts as well as Darien charged toward the Negaverse monsters. The monsters then vanished. Suddenly, an ugly sounding whistle sounded,  
  
"Yoohoo! Over here, humans!"  
  
The Sailorscouts and Darien turned around. Gigantic branches strapped Mars and Mercury.  
  
"Ahh!" cried Mercury and Mars.  
  
Darien gasped and then tore out his long, sharp, staff. He lengthened it, and started to slice and dice the large, tough branches. He could only slice bits of bark off.  
  
"I can't cut this!" cried Tuxedo Mask.  
  
"Let me try," volunteered Sailorjupiter. She stepped forward and took her fighting stance. Jupiter then jumped and slammed her strong boots onto the middle of the branches. The branches cracked and partially broked.  
  
"Whoa, Jupiter," complimented Tuxedo Mask, "that was some kick you sprung!"  
  
Jupiter, who was still on top of the branches, thanked, "Thanks, but that hurt my legs a bit."  
  
Mars replied holding on to her branch, "You almost got it, Jupiter! Try it again!"  
  
Jupiter jumped down from the branches and rubbed her legs. She replied, "I don't know if I could do that again. That hurt my legs. I could try to use my karate kicks and arm slams."  
  
"Well, give it a try!" inquired Sailorvenus.  
  
"Yeah, go for it!" replied Sailormoon and Tuxedo Mask.  
  
"Alright, here it goes!" readied Jupiter. She set her legs and arms.  
  
"Hee-yah!" cried Jupiter. "Haiiiiiiiiiiiii-yyyyyyyyyah!"  
  
After about five kicks and arms slams, the branches were almost completely broken. Jupiter paused, out of breath while her legs and arms hurt. Tuxedo Mask took this cue as he flung his staff and slashed the remaining branches. Mars and Mercury were then freed. But then, the creatures appeared again, charging slowly forward.  
  
"Ok---ay," stammered Venus, "so what do we do now?"  
  
Mars said from behind, "We destroy them!"  
  
"Right!" agreed everyone.  
  
Mercury confronted, "Prepare to be eliminated, Negaverse creeps!" She stepped forward as she ordered, "Mercury, ice-star, BLAST!"  
  
Lita clenched her fist as she fumed, "Right! Jupiter, Thunder-claps, ZAP!"  
  
"Mars, celestial, fire, SURROUND!" commanded Sailormars.  
  
"I'm in for this!" cried Sailorvenus. She stood forward and cried, "Venus, love-chain, ENCIRCLE!"  
  
When the scouts were finished, Jupiter cried, "Sailormoon, that's your cue!"  
  
"Oh, right!" redeemed Sailormoon. She raised and waved her ceptor, "Moon, ceptor, ELIMINATION!" The creatures were destroyed and they vanished.  
  
"Great job, Sailormoon!" complimented Darien. He then ran over and hugged her.   
  
"Thanks!" responded Sailormoon.  
  
Then, Rube appeared, "This duel isn't over yet, Sailorscouts! Be surprised, the real action takes place right back in your world!" He disappeared again.  
  
"Hey, that was sort of a weird duel," replied Venus. "Why did Rube send out these monsters when he knows that we could beat them?"  
  
"Probably because he wants to confuse our minds so that when we go back to our world, we won't be able to fight him," pointed out Darien.  
  
"Huh?" asked the scouts, looking at him.  
  
"Well, it's pretty obvious," explained Darien again.  
  
"You do have a point, " pointed out Sailormoon.  
  
Mars suddenly gasped.  
  
"What is it?" asked Darien.  
  
"I feel a strange power coming toward us," explained Mars. "There's a strong, chilly wind coming."  
  
"At us?" repeated Sailormoon.  
  
Mercury turned on her VR-Visor and started to scan the place again.  
  
"Hold on a second, you guys," requested Mercury. She whirled around behind her and pointed, "It's behind us and in front of us!"  
  
"Uh-oh," commented Sailormoon. The Sailorscouts and Tuxedo Mask swirled around as they felt the strong wind come closer. All of a sudden, a strong pink flash of light flashed about. Everyone shielded their eyes and body, including Tuxedo Mask, who used his cape. The wind sent straight at the Scouts and Darien as they were thrown backwards into the ashy fog they were in before when they first got here. Everyone landed on their backside. Sailormoon was the first one to sit up, rubbing her head and behind.  
  
"Ouch," she emphasized.  
  
Mars rubbed her head and asked, "Are we back out into the fog of where we started?"  
  
"Yep, it looks like it," answered Venus.  
  
Mercury sat up, and so did Darien and Jupiter.   
  
"It looks like Rube is giving us the message to get out and back into our world and dimension," replied Mercury.  
  
"Well then," said Tuxedo Mask, "which way?"  
  
"Yeah, which way?" asked Jupiter.  
  
Once again, Mercury turned on her VR-Visor and took out her little mini-data computer and started to search. After a few minutes, she answered, "I think I have it. My calculations say that our world is at north north west which is---that way." She pointed in the direction.  
  
"Well, let's go!" suggested Venus. Everyone started to sprint back to their own world.  
  
"Be on your best guard, everyone," said Raye. "Rube mentioned that the most action and dangers affecting us is close to where we get out and when we get out."  
  
Finally, after of what seems miles of running, they came upon the dark porthole of where they started. Everyone started to walked through very slowly and very much on their guard for any sign of danger. All of the scouts were way ahead of Sailormoon and Tuxedo Mask, who were the last to climb through. Darien allowed Sailormoon to set her hand on the back of his shoulder as Sailormoon followed behind him, who was the last scout and person to climb out. Without anyone noticing (not even triggering Mars visions at the moment), Rube appeared. He thought, "Now's my chance to get Sailormoon. She's the last one to get out. I could get her, and then the scouts won't be able to do anything about it. And perfect, Tuxedo Mask could be right next to Sailormoon when he sees to her end of being a Sailorscout." He took out a very sharp weapon and aimed.  
  
When everyone climbed back into their own world, Rube struck as he stabbed Sailormoon on the back of her right side. Sailormoon let out a shrilling cry, like no one has ever heard before.   
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" cried Sailormoon.  
  
This time, Mars did have her vision, and cried, "Sailormoon, look out!"  
  
She was too late. Sailormoon was already stabbed. After when Tuxedo Mask heard Raye's cryout, he felt Sailormoon's grip on his shoulder tighten and then slide down his hack as she collapsed onto her knees, swaying. Darien realized what he saw and heard, and he swirled around to what seemed like slow motion. As he swirled around, he cried, "Sailormoon? Sailormoon! NO!"  
  
He caught her in time as Sailormoon then lay in his arms, motionless for a moment. Darien could see that Sailormoon's right side of her costume was rapidly stained with rosy red blood.  
  
"Sailormoon!" cried the rest of the scouts. They rushed to Sailormoon's side as fast as they could. It seemed that they couldn't ever get there. Meanwhile, Tuxedo Mask frantically tried to wake Sailormoon.  
  
"Sailormoon! Sailormoon! Wake up!" cried Darien. He took Sailormoon's wrist and shook her. "Sailormoon!"  
  
Sailormoon suddenly opened her eyes, and stammered, "Now-- I know what-- it-- felt like when you been-- through this when Zoisite got you."  
  
"Hang on, Sailormoon," begged Tuxedo Mask. He was practically crying. He lifted her up slowly and replied, "We'll get you to the hospital, and then you'll be okay again. Don't give up."   
  
Sailormoon slowly shook her head as she tried her best to keep her eyes open. She secretly slipped the Imperium Silver Crystal into Tuxedo Mask's left tux pocket. Then, she raised her arm up and promised, "I'll--always--remember and love you--, Darien. You-- and the-- rest of the-- Sailorscouts." She dropped her armed and fell into blackness. Darien fell onto his knees and cried, "No, NO! Sailormoon, keep with me! You can't leave me!"  
  
The other Sailorscouts came running.  
  
"SAILORMOON!" they all cried out. Rube just cackled, "Ha, ha, ha! Too bad, Sailorscouts!" He especially glared at Tuxedo Mask, and replied, "Isn't it great to see your girlfriend slip away from you with your own eyes?"  
  
Tuxedo Mask was crying, mostly inside, but he was also was really angry.  
  
"You'll pay for this!" fumed Darien. You could tell that he was crying.  
  
"You're going to pay for this!" promised Mars.  
  
"Mars, Fire---"  
  
Rube just said, "So long Sailorscouts!" He threw a bolt of lightning at the Sailorscouts, hurting them immensely. Then, he blew them back right over at the cement platform courtyard of the temple, screaming at the top of their lungs in horror. The Sailorscouts just lay there, unconscious.  
  
"No, not you Sailorscouts, too!" cried Darien. He looked at where Rube was, but he disappeared. He glanced all around, still on his knees holding Sailormoon. Suddenly, Rube appeared right behind Darien without Darien noticing. Rube kicked a painful kick right on Tuxedo Mask's back.  
  
"Ah!" cried out Tuxedo Mask. He let go of Sailormoon and fell back onto his back. Rube gladly lifted up Sailormoon into his arms and glanced down at her. The kick that Rube slammed at Tuxedo Mask didn't cause him to be unconscious, fortunately. He slowly got up, rubbing his back. He just realized, "Rube, give Sailormoon back! Give her back!"  
  
"Not a chance, Tuxedo Mask!" shouted Rube. He kicked his rough boot at Darien's head. Darien tried to block, but he just fell forward onto his stomach, just about unconscious. Darien was hurt, but he redeemed himself, "I'm not giving up! Not until I get Sailormoon back!"  
  
"Oh, yeah?" retorted Rube. He threw a gust of wind and lightning bolts right at Darien, and he was sent right to where Mars was lying with her face to the side. This time (he wasn't wearing his hat and mask at the moment), Darien's right side corner of his head was bleeding a bit. He struggled to get up, but he could only look up as Rube was standing there, chuckling, "See- ya' Tuxedo Mask, or should I say, 'Neo-King Darien!' You lost!" Rube kicked Darien on his wound on his head, and spun around, and disappeared with Sailormoon in his arms.   
  
Darien tried to stretch his arm, and he managed to whisper, "Sailor--moon! Ser--rena!" He dropped his arm and fell into his unconscious state. Darien just lay there, motionless, along with the other scouts, which he presumed, are killed.  
  
* * *  
  
Back in Rube headquarters, Rube lay Sailormoon down onto a counter top. He then gasped evilly and happily, "I did it! I got rid of those Sailorscouts, and Tuxedo Mask! I could just leave them there, without me caring. Oh well, I got Sailormoon! Yes!"  
  
* * *  
  
After close to an hour, Sailormars woke up. She couldn't really get up, because she was so dazed, dizzy, and has a pounding headache. She could raise her head, so she pressed her arms to raise her upper body up. After a few minutes, she saw her surroundings in full sight. She groaned and moaned as she tried her best to look around. She was majorly bruised, and she realizes that she probably sprained her right ankle. Mars also has scratches and cuts.  
  
"Oh no," whimpered Mars. As she looked around, she saw that her friends were immensely hurt, too. When she turned to her right, she saw that Darien was lying there with his head turned away from her on his stomach with his arms and legs sprawled out. There were also several big prints of blood on the ground around him. Mars tried to get up, but her legs felt really hurt. She then tried to crawl, but her knees were bruised too badly. So, she had to drag herself by paddling to Darien, grunting and groaning every time she made a drag. She shook him, and whispered, "Darien?" No response.  
  
Mars tried again. She got close enough to be over Darien and shook harder and longer, speaking louder. "Darien? Tuxedo Mask? Are you alright? Darien?" Still, no response.   
  
Sailormars, with tears of sadness and pain, stood up as best as she could. She collapsed the first time, but she tried again.  
  
"Ow, my ankle!" screamed Mars. Somehow, her scream didn't seem to be as full as ever before. She tried to not register in the pain as she turn Darien over on his back. Then, she gasped. Raye noticed that Darien was bleeding on his head with his blood gushing down his right side of his face.   
  
"No, no," Raye tried to assume. "Darien, you couldn't be killed. You just could not be killed. Please, don't let this happen to Darien again! Please, no! Oh, if Mercury was awake, she would know what to do!" After a few minutes of crying, she realized, "Wait, every single time Mercury sees a hurt person, she feels their pulse! Maybe I should try Darien's." She felt his pulse, and it seemed to be a bit unsteady. She then grabbed onto Darien's right arm with a firm grasp.  
  
"I've got to get you to my temple, Darien," decided Raye. "Oh, if the rest of the Scouts were awake, they could help Darien inside! Oh, what am I going to do!"  
  
Then, Mars had an idea. Even though she sprained her ankle, she could partially walk and crawl. She dragged herself back to where the other scouts were lying and tried to wake them up. She gently, nudged her friends with her foot, trying not to feel the fate of the pain.   
  
"Jupiter? Come on, Jupiter," pleaded Mars. She then tried the other Scouts, but they ignored Mars. Mars, now real tired because she lost quite a bit of blood also from a wound to the head, dragged herself back to where she was before, where Darien was. She once again tried to wake him, but he wouldn't register. Sailormars collapsed of pain and exhaustion (and not to mention sadness) right on top of Darien. She started to weep and weep.  
  
"I can't believe this! We lost! It can't be true! This isn't fair!" Sailormars wept. She cried until she felt a warm little nudge on her side. She looked to her right and saw Luna and Artemis standing there.  
  
Mars sniffled, "She's--gone. Sailormoon's gone! All of the Scouts and Darien over-- here were seriously beaten by Rube. I don't know that if they're alright." She wiped her nose, and continued, "I'm--sorry, Luna and Artemis."  
  
Luna stepped forward sadly, and soothed, "It wasn't your fault, Sailormars. When I saw you and the rest of the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask lying here, I knew that something was seriously wrong. So, Artemis and I bolted over here as fast as we could."  
  
Artemis stepped forward, trying not show his tears of sad emotions. He replied, "We have to get the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask some help."  
  
Sailormars stopped crying and responded, "You're right. We've got to get help, but we can't take them to the hospital. The people there would find out our true identities." She looked over and around the place. Suddenly, she had an idea.  
  
"Wait! I think that we could take them to my temple. My fire-reading room is still open," suggested Raye.  
  
"Good idea!" admitted Luna.  
  
"Yeah, we've got to get them inside as soon as possible," pointed out Artemis.   
  
All of a sudden, Jupiter started to wake up. So did the rest of the Scouts. Tuxedo Mask still remained unconscious while the Scouts moaned and groaned as they tried to sit up. Jupiter sat up as best as she could. You could tell that she had a lot of scratches on her. Her hair was messed up and she had dirt marks everywhere, The other Scouts had just about the same injuries. Mercury probably has twisted her neck, and Venus has probably twisted her knee and a cut on her forehead; the same place where Darien's was.  
  
Luna glanced behind her as she questioned, "Are you girls alright?"  
  
Jupiter replied, "Ouch. I'm still dizzy, and I still feel pain."  
  
"So do we," answered the other Scouts. Venus looked at Mars.  
  
"Mars, are you okay?" she asked.  
  
Raye sat up sideways over Darien and look at Venus with her left eye closed.  
  
"I got beaten real bad," started off Raye. "My right ankle has been sprained, I'm bruised and scratched all over, I got slammed in the head, and I feel real dizzy, plus I also have a very pounding migraine. But we've got to get Darien back into my temple. Looks like he's injured the most; inside and outside."  
  
"But how are we going to get him inside your temple?" asked Venus.  
  
Jupiter sat up straighter as she suggested, "We all could try to drag him inside. I usually could probably lift him up myself, but my arms and legs feel like their paralyzed with pain. I could probably just drag, not lift."  
  
"We all could help each other," replied Mercury, brushing her face. She looked at Mars, and asked her, "Where's the closest room we could take Darien into for aid?"  
  
Raye sat up and thought for a second. She then answered, "Well, the fire-readng room is open, and it's just about connected with my room. It's right over there." She pointed to the building at her right.  
  
Mina brushed her skirt and replied, "Well, let's go then!"  
  
"Right!" agreed everyone.  
  
Sailorjupiter and Sailorvenus started to lift up Darien and his upper body, taking an arm each as the rest of the Scouts took his legs. After about three-quarter ways to the entrance, Mars collapsed on her knees.  
  
"My ankle really hurts," explain Raye. "I can't go much farther."  
  
The Scouts laid Darien down for a second. Mercury came over to Mars and examined her ankle. Mercury responded, "Mars, we have to get Tuxedo Mask inside, or he'll be much worse. Maybe I could find a piece of wood and rope for your ankle."  
  
Mars resisted, "No, you're right. We've got to get Tuxedo Mask inside. I'll care for myself a little later."  
  
"Are you sure?" asked Mercury.  
  
Mars gently pushed Mercury away and slowly got to her feet.   
  
"Venus, maybe you should also watch Darien's head. That's where the injury's at," pointed out Mars.  
  
Everyone got their positions again and they started to drag Darien inside. After a few more minutes, they laid him down onto Raye's bed and covered him up with covers. Mercury went and examined Darien and ordered, "Raye, see if you and Lita could find several washcloths, rolls of bandages, antibiotics, cotton, and you know, anything else for aid. Mina, you can help me here. Grab several thick napkins from Raye's room and gently wipe off some blood. You keep in touch with Darien's vital signs, and I'll try to examine his wounds." Everyone set to work. Just as Mercury promised Raye, she quickly went out and found a piece of wood for Raye. She ran to find her in her bathroom right next door. Mercury offered,  
  
"Here, Mars, sit down. I want to see if I could help your ankle."  
  
Sailormars did as she was told to do after she washed the blood off her face and bandaged her forehead, but she asked, "Who's looking after Darien?"  
  
Mercury took out a bandage roll and examined Raye's ankle.   
  
"Venus is, Mars," replied Amy. She then explained, "Raye, from my experience, your ankle has been badly sprained. I could help you keep it together for a while, but you really need to go to a doctor and have it fixed. All of us, if we have any questions, we need to go to the doctor."  
  
Sailorjupiter stopped taking out aiding products and questioned, "What about Darien? If he's injured the most, then we need to get him to a doctor as fast as possible. We don't want the same thing from the incident when he was attacked by Barrel to happen again."  
  
Amy looked up at Lita as she was wrapping some bandage on Mar's ankle.  
  
"Yeah, maybe he should have a check-up, just in case," replied Mercury. After a few more minutes, Mercury strapped the piece of wood onto Raye's ankle with some strong bandage tape. Raye then slowly stood up. She wobbled at first, but then she looked alright again. She tried to walked around. Raye looked relieved.   
  
"Thanks Mercury," replied Mars. "I can walk straight again!"  
  
"You're welcome, Mars," responded Mercury. "This is the best tool I could use to hold your ankle together for now. We really have to get you to the doctor." Mercury swung her head around several times until she her s big crack on her neck. She looked relieved from pain and replied, "Well, I fixed my neck. I could fix your wounds too, Jupiter."  
  
"Thanks, Mercury," thanked Jupiter. She knelt down for Mercury to examine her wounds. She just washed them and placed some antibiotics and bandages on them.  
  
"Now, we have to help Venus. Her knee is twisted," suggested Mercury.  
  
Mars gazed to her side to watch the shadow of the fire in the fire-reading room flare. "We've got to help Darien, though. He's probably getting worse. We don't know."  
  
The Scouts hurried back to Raye's room where they saw Venus on her knees wiping some blood from Darien's face. Mercury kneeled down and took out some herbal ointment. She applied some on the wound with a Q-tip, spreading it gently and evenly.  
  
"Sailorvenus, is Darien doing any better?" asked Mercury.  
  
Venus (who already fixed her twisted knee herself) scooted back and briefly explained, "He's doing just fine. His vital signs are steady and working normally, and he's breathing okay."  
  
"That's good news, so far," said Mars. Feeling tired and painful, she slowly helped herself to sit onto a nearby cushioned chair. She stretched out her injured ankle as much as she could.  
  
Jupiter took her cue to hand Mercury the cotton balls.  
  
"Thanks, Jupiter," thanked Mercury. She stretched them out and placed them together, layered. Mercury then placed them inside a full-size gauze pad and placed it carefully and gently onto Darien's wound. A couple of times, the girls heard him groan and moan, and he often winced in pain. Mars came over and held his hand tightly and firmly.   
  
"Jupiter, can you hand me the bandage rolls?" requested Amy. She went back to tending Darien's wound.  
  
Sailorjupiter scrambled to snatch several rolls and gave them to Amy.  
  
"Thanks," thanked Amy.  
  
"Ummhmm," replied back Jupiter. She still just stood over and watched Mercury to learn and inherit the knowledge. Mars and Venus did the same, but Sailormars just stayed where she was, holding Darien's hand.  
  
"Sailorvenus, can you come hold and lift up Darien's head for me? I need to strap on the bandages," explained Mercury.  
  
"Sure thing, Amy," spoke Venus. She did as Amy requested. Afterwards, she gently and slowly laid Darien back down. He went to sleep after that, and so the Scouts went to the fire-reading room next door, leaving the fire in Raye's room on, and collapsed onto the ground.  
  
"Man, I'm tired and...everything's.. going black," acknowledged Jupiter. She fell unconscious. So did the rest of the Scouts.  
  
All of them managed to not get injured more, but they did fall into a restless, painful sleep. Everything in the temple then became silent (except for the cackles of the the fire) as the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask fell asleep, trying to hope that the Negaverse won't come looking for them soon.  
  
* * *  
  
Now back in headquarters, Rube started his feeding of dark energy and thinking into Sailormoon. Sailormoon was lying on an evil designed counter top.   
  
Before he started to feed the dark energy, he felt around Sailormoon for the silver crystal.  
  
"Huh? This is absurd; Sailormoon always carried her Imperium Silver Crystal with her!" cried Rube, angered. Then he realized, "She must have gave it to Tuxedo Mask right before she collapsed into blackness! Ooh! Oh well, after when I transform Sailormoon into an evil person, she could get that crystal back for me, since she is a powerful warrior."  
  
On the edges of the table were claws sticking way out. Slowly, Rube aimed his both hands at Sailormoon and commanded evilly, "Dark energy of the Negamoon! Fill this girl warrior with dark energy and knowledge! Let this spell never be broken!" Forces of dark and chilly winds swirled everywhere and finally into Sailormoon. Afterwards, there was a strike of black lightning, and Sailormoon sat up with her warrior costume totally changed into a black revealing version. She had an evil look in her eyes as a black upside down crescent moon appeared on her forehead. She chuckled and smiled evilly.  
  
* * *  
  
"Where am I?" asked Tuxedo Mask. He wasn't wearing his mask or hat, yet he looked around. He just then realized he was in a weird dimension; all bright yellow in one place with rocky and high cliffs and all gray, black, dark, and foggy in another. He looked around.  
  
"Hello? Sailormoon? Sailorscouts? Is anyone here?" Darien called out. He was on his guard as he cautiously explored his surroundings. Suddenly, he heard some familiar girl screams. He glanced around quickly and then saw the Scouts.  
  
"Help us! Help us, Darien!" begged the Scouts at different times. They were frantically trying to hold onto a cliff, which was breaking off little pieces and was cracking up. Darien saw them and came sprinting to them.  
  
Sailormars tried to hand Darien her hand.  
  
"Please, Darien," sobbed Mars, "please help me." He tears were streaming down her face.  
  
"Help us, Darien! Help!" pleaded Venus. Her legs were dangling worse. All of the Scouts started to lose their grip and started to slip. They kept trying to hold on.  
  
"Darien!"  
  
"Darien!"   
  
"Darien!"  
  
"Darien!"  
  
The Scouts' voices were echoing everywhere. Darien tried to cover his ears. He then shook that thought off. He then put out his hand to help each one of the Scouts.  
  
"Here!" ordered Darien, frightened. "Give me your hand!"  
  
"We--we can't!" panicked the Sailorscouts.  
  
Suddenly, the ground began too shake violently. Darien smacked flat on his face. A powerful force sent Darien away from the cliff, making him land skidding on his back.   
  
"DARIEN!" cried the Scouts.  
  
He yelled, but he tried to go against the wind back to the scouts. He observed that the cliff began to crack and break.  
  
"Sailorscouts!" Darien cried. By the time he got to them, the cliff broked, and all of the Sailorscouts (screaming) plunged all the way down to whoever knew.  
  
"NOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" cried Darien.   
  
A familiar annoying evil voice snickered, "Isn't it nice to see your beloved girlfriends plunge to their deaths!"   
  
Darien turned. It was that Negacreep Rube, and not only that, he was still holding the injured Sailormoon with one of his arms. He suddenly disappeared with Sailormoon.   
  
Darien wasn't bound to give up; so he scrambled back to the cliff where the Scouts fell.   
  
"Sailorscouts! SAILORSCOUTS!!!" shouted Darien.  
  
Darien's eyes snapped open. He was sweating and gasping for breath.  
  
"Ow," he groaned. He felt his wound and found a bandage on it. He tried to redeem himself from his frightening dream. He was crying, but he wiped his tears off and looked around.  
  
"What and where is this place?" asked Darien. He looked around and saw a dimmed warm fire still flaring. The fire light reflected on some pandas and other stuffed animals in the room. There was an electric piano and a familiar looking temple robe that he always sees Raye wear draped over a desk with pictures of Serena and her friends, plus Raye's grandpa and what looks like another picture of Raye's parents. Darien sat up, but he fell back again because he was so dizzy.  
  
"Gosh, I need an aspirin," blurted Darien in the dark, rubbing his head. He sat up again and stood up, walking around the big room. He tried to find things to guide him to stand up.  
  
"Is anyone here?" called Darien. He kept feeling his bandage.  
  
"Huh, I wondered who helped patch up my wound. Whoever did it ...." he didn't finish his sentence. He walked next door into what he thought was the bathroom. It was the fire-reading room. Darien saw that the Scouts had fallen unconscious again. Suddenly, there was moan from in front of the fire. Then realized where he was; he was inside the Cherry Hill Temple!  
  
"Hey, this is Raye's temple! I've seen this place before!" exclaimed Darien. Then he thought again. "Well, no duh, the last battle was fought here." He started to feel hurt and sad inside again. "Oh, Sailormoon, where are you? What has Rube done to you?" He placed his head in his head in his hands for a moment.  
  
From in front of the fire, there was a moan again. Darien looked up, startled.  
  
It turned out that Sailormars woke up. She sat up and rubbed her head.  
  
"Huh?" she asked. She then remembered what happened and looked up. She was astonished, very relieved and happy.  
  
"Darien? Darien!" cried Raye. "You're alright! You're awake! Do you know where you are?"  
  
Darien glanced and saw Raye.  
  
"Oh, Mars! You're okay! Of course I know where I am. I'm at your temple," responded Darien.  
  
Mars was filled of tears of happiness. "You're not hurt that badly! I'm so glad!" She tried to get up and walk to him, but she ended up limping because of her ankle.  
  
Darien rushed over to Sailormars and helped her stand up.  
  
"I'm fine, thanks. Who helped with my injury anyways?" asked Darien.  
  
Raye blushed a bit as she gripped onto Darien's strong, warm, firm hand.   
  
"Mercury helped patch up your wound, Darien," answered Raye.  
  
Just at that moment, the rest of the Scouts woke up and sat up. They glanced around and saw Darien.   
  
"Hey, Darien! You're okay!" pointed out Venus, pulling down her skirt.  
  
"You're going to be okay!" assured Mercury.  
  
"You're back!" replied Jupiter.  
  
Darien laughed a bit, but winced a bit in pain. He rubbed his head.  
  
"Do you want an aspirin, Darien? I think I have a package," suggested Mercury.  
  
Darien looked at her and nodded, "Thanks, I think I could really use one." He turned to Raye and the Scouts and asked, "What exactly happened after the--- the battle?" He clenched his teeth awkwardly to fight off the tears in his eyes.  
  
"Well, I think Sailormars could fill you in on that story since she was probably the Scout that witnessed most of it," suggested Jupiter.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Venus.  
  
Mars told everyone first, "Well, grandpa and Chad are probably sleeping, so why don't be go to the sitting room? There are some drinks and food in there."  
  
"Alright," agreed everyone.  
  
Everyone then followed Raye into the sitting and kitchen room, where everyone sat down. Raye took out some Asian styled cups, made some tea, and served some little soft cake tarts that had creamy white whipped cream on top with a cherry, strawberry, and some other assorted berries and sliced kiwis (in case you want to know, Raye made them fresh just that afternoon when her friends came over). Everyone took a cup of seaming and hot comforting tea.   
  
Venus then put her cup down, and asked everyone, "Uh--guys? Why are we still in our warrior costumes? We're not in battle anymore."  
  
Everyone stopped drinking their tea and looked down at their costumes. They just realized that they hadn't changed yet.  
  
"Yeah, why are we still in our warrior costumes anyway? Thanks for pointing that out, Venus," nodded Mars. She and the rest of the Sailorscouts changed back into their regular clothes.  
  
Darien, who just noticed, asked Raye, "Raye, what happened to your head? Don't tell me that you got the same injury that I have."  
  
Raye smoothed her bandage and answered, "My injury wasn't as bad as yours. I just got a big cut because I slid across the pavement on my head when Rube attacked." She looked at Darien, whose head looked down and real sad. She realized what she just said.  
  
"Oh, Darien! I'm sorry; I shouldn't have mentioned 'when Rube attacked!' I didn't realize that you were hurting for Sailormoon."  
  
Darien looked up at Raye and the girls as he tried to smile as best as he could. "It's alright, girls. I'm going to be okay."  
  
"You sure?" asked Venus.  
  
Raye put her cup down and then realized she hasn't answered Darien's question about after the battle.   
  
"Uh, Darien, I just realized something. I forgot to answer your question about after the battle with Rube. Do you want me to answer, or do you want me to not tell because of..." She didn't finish her sentence.  
  
Darien looked at Raye and the rest of the girls, and then answered, "Well, since I asked, maybe I should know, just in case it could help in getting Sailormoon back to us again." He tried to make a grin.  
  
"Hey, Lita," mumbled Raye, "Maybe you and the other girls could also bid in on this story." She looked at Luna and Artemis. "You could help, too, Luna and Artemis."  
  
Luna stepped forward. "Well, maybe Raye will start the story and the rest of us will build along."  
  
Raye nodded and started to explain, "I think it was about forty-five minutes later that I started to wake up. When I did, I realized I was right next to you, Darien, and next to Jupiter also. All of the Sailorscouts were just lying there, hurt. When I awoke, I was in a lot of pain as you could tell. Then I saw that you, Darien, had some blood around you, and I was scared. I dragged myself to check on you because I couldn't stand up because of my ankle and my knees were bruised too badly. I turned you over, and saw that you had a big bloody gash on your forehead, and the blood was gushing down your face. I felt like giving up, and so I cried but realized that no one would give up. I tried to wake the scouts, and then Luna and Artemis came along."   
  
Luna and Artemis stepped forward. Luna bid in, "I think I could take over here. I questioned Mars several questions because I saw what had happened before she awoke."  
  
"That's when Jupiter and the rest of the Scouts woke up," chimed in Raye. "And that's when we discovered that everyone's okay except for you. That's when we all decided to take you to my temple. The only rooms that are open at this moment are the bedrooms and the fire-reading room. We all had to drag you into my room and aid you. You really should thank Mercury since she's the one that saved your life with her knowledge from medical class at school."   
  
Amy blushed.   
  
"Well, in that case, thank you Amy for aiding me, and thank you all you Scouts for helping also," spoke Darien.  
  
"Oh, it was nothing," replied Amy, still blushing.  
  
"Yeah, we were glad that you weren't too seriously hurt and you didn't lose too much blood," said Mina.  
  
"Yeah, I mean you scared us to make us think that you were gone from us," broke in Lita.  
  
"Which brings us to this point," pointed out Raye. She then tried to stand up, but her ankle still was hurt real bad. Almost collapsing, Darien lended a helping hand.  
  
"Raye, I think that you should go to the hospital for treatment," suggested Darien. "I think all of us have to go if our injuries are serious. Maybe we should all go just to have a check-up. I think a doctor should take a look at my head and take a few X-rays to make sure that everything's okay inside." He rubbed his wound.  
  
"Good idea, Darien," replied Amy.  
  
Mina suddenly gasped so loud that it startled everybody.  
  
"What's the matter, Mina?" asked Lita.  
  
Mina turned to everyone and tried to speak softly.  
  
"You guys," started off Mina, "uh, Darien, I know that this might make you sad because this might remind you of Sailormoon, but didn't Rube mention that once he gotten Sailormoon, the Imperium Silver Crystal will be his?"  
  
Everyone gasped.  
  
"D--d--does that mean that we lost?" asked Amy. Her happy face suddenly turned pale.  
  
Raye bit her tongue as she tried not to cry. Lita and Mina looked down onto the ground, with their beautiful eyes full of tears.  
  
Surprisingly, Darien looked like he shook off his sad phase. He reassured, "Wait! Don't think that we lost, because we didn't!"  
  
All of the girls looked up, astonished.  
  
Darien took something out of his left pocket of his sport coat and clenched it in his hand.  
  
"Rube didn't win yet," assured Darien.  
  
"How do you know?" asked Amy.  
  
"Yeah, how?" chimed in Lita.  
  
He opened his hands, and there lay the Imperium Silver Crystal!  
  
"Darien, you didn't..." Raye didn't finish her sentence.  
  
"No, of course not!" defended Darien. "I just realized I had it because I feeling my left pocket for my wallet picture of all you girls and I felt a round rock inside my pocket. I saw a shine reflect in my face, and that's when I knew that it was the Crystal because only this crystal could ever have a shine like that."  
  
Lita smiled for the first in a long time.  
  
"Well, looks like Rube is furious and hasn't won yet!" replied Lita. She tried to sound as pleasing as she could.  
  
Everyone else tried to smile too, but they all felt really sad still because it just wasn't the same without Sailormoon.  
  
Lita perked herself up and asked, curiously, "Darien, do you know how the Crystal got into your pocket?"  
  
Darien froze as he tried to think. He looked flush from all color in his face as he thought. He didn't want to rewind the incident when Sailormoon was attacked, but he had to in order to find out how the Crystal got into his pocket. Then he saw it, after a flash in his head, a plain black and white vision.  
  
He glanced at the girls and replied, "I saw it."  
  
"Huh?" asked the girls altogether.  
  
"What did you see?" asked Amy, precociously.  
  
"I remember -- I remember feeling my left tux pocket being gently pulled open. Right after Sailormoon was attacked, she must have known that she was going to be away to Rube, so she probably slipped the Crystal in my pocket for us to take care of it and not Rube to take it," explained Darien. He tried to sound as convincing and okay as he could.   
  
Amy stood up and replied, "Well, maybe Luna and Artemis can help identify where Sailormoon is and how we're going to get her back." She took out her mini-data computer.  
  
"Darien, can I see the Crystal for a moment?" requested Amy.  
  
Darien tried to smile as best as he could without hurting and answered, "Okay." He handed Amy the Crystal.  
  
Amy took it and placed it right in aiming range of her computer. She started to type and analyze. After a few minutes, Amy explained,   
  
"Guys, I can't say that I have anything to help get Sailormoon back, because there isn't."   
  
The girls and Darien himself looked down and sighed all together. Darien's eyes started to form tears. He quickly brushed them away. Raye came over and placed her soft hand on his back and soothed, "Darien, you can't go on being sad like this forever. I know you miss her, but we're trying to get her back."  
  
Mina tried to look into Darien's eyes as she spoke, "Yeah, we're not going to let that creep Rube take away our friends, or any of us. I promise you." She put her hand on top of Darien's. He looked up at Mina and replied, "Thanks. I'm going to need that." Mina then smiled a reassuring and beautiful smile.  
  
Amy came over to where Raye was and responded to Darien, "And I'll use my computer as well as my research to help."  
  
Raye promised, "And for sure, I'm going to use the Sacred Flame to help me do my share."  
  
Lita stood up with a fist up. She promised, "And when we find Rube, I'm going to knock him out black and blue, permanently. I'll show him what we're made of." She swung a few impressive karate moves as she continued, "And I'm going to make sure of it."  
  
Darien couldn't help looking up and laugh a bit from his crying.  
  
"That's the first time I felt a little better," he pointed out, "but the whole sadness thing won't go away very quickly."  
  
Lita stood next to Darien and patted his back. She clenched her teeth in anger, "Rube is going to be sorry that he took away Sailormoon. He's really going to get a real beating for hurting her and our friends."  
  
Raye stood up as she started to gather up all of the cups and the tarts on the little table. She said to everyone, "Hey you guys, why don't you stay overnight here? I have enough room here. It's really late at night anyways, and I don't want you guys to all the way back home from here. This temple is pretty faraway from the rest of the city and residential areas."  
  
Darien and the rest of the girls agreed immediately as they glanced at each other for assurance.  
  
"Sure," replied Mina. "Thanks, Raye."  
  
"Anytime," answered Raye. She carefully and quietly washed and put the cups away as she threw away the extra tarts leftover. She glanced at Darien and suggested to him, "Darien, maybe you should sleep on my bed. I could sleep in this room with the rest of the girls. You should probably sleep on a bed because of your head injury, and I don't want to cause anymore problems." She smiled a convincing smile.  
  
Darien whispered, "But Raye, won't that make you feel really uncomfortable? I mean, this is your temple. I'll be fine out here."  
  
Raye grinned more as she shook her head, "Yeah, but still, I want to see overnight results. Besides, Amy here or anyone of us has to check on you and your wound. Which reminds me, maybe we should change your bandages and put fresh ones on before you go to bed. It'll probably make you feel better."  
  
Darien sounded sad, but again, he couldn't help smiling.   
  
"You win, Raye," answered Darien. "I sure sometimes can't argue over you." He glanced at his watch. "It's about 11:00 p.m. Maybe we should all start heading to sleep."  
  
Raye giggled, "All right. I'll get some extra sheets, blankets, pillows, and cots. If any of you need anything, let me know."  
  
Lita stood up and replied, "Raye, maybe we should help you. We don't want you overwhelmed and overtired." She smiled.  
  
Raye nodded in agreement, "Alright, sure. Maybe I could use a hand after all."  
  
The girls and Darien started to head to the storage closet, where extra robes, towels and other extras are stored. They each took a share and walked back to where their designated place to sleep for the night is. Raye took out some temple robes and clothes and handed them to her friends.  
  
"Darien, you and the girls can have one of these robes to sleep in if you don't want to ruin your clothes that you're wearing right now," suggested Raye. "If you want, you could also shower before you sleep."  
  
"Thanks, Raye," thanked Mina, "I think I'll use a robe just in case it gets cold."  
  
"Yeah, but I would like to probably wash my face if not showering, but a shower would be nice, since I feel sweaty and dirty," spluttered Lita. She tried not to say anything that will hint about Sailormoon.  
  
"I'll just wash up," blurted Amy.  
  
"Me too," joined Darien.  
  
"Okay, then it's settled," replied Raye. "How many of you want to borrow these robes?"  
  
Just about everyone answered yes.  
  
"Darien, you do want one?" questioned Raye.  
  
Darien hesitated and then agreed, "Okay, sure. Why not?" He took a white and blue robe from Raye while the rest of the girls wore red and white. Everyone took their turns to wash up while Raye and Amy (before their turns to wash up) helped put out more pillows, blankets, sheets and towels. Amy stood before them and counted.  
  
"Good, I think we have enough for everyone," remarked Amy. She glanced at her watch and rejoined, "It's about 11:30."  
  
Raye set up the last pillow and said, "Whew! Yeah, I think we're ready."  
  
Suddenly, Lita and Mina came to the room in Raye's robes.  
  
"Whew, that was a refreshing shower," stated Lita. "That made me feel a lot better from my scratches."  
  
"Yeah," agreed Mina. She looked around. "Where's Darien?"  
  
"Huh?" puzzled everyone at the same time. Raye stepped forward and went to the entrance of that room and looked out into the hallway.  
  
"Yeah, where is he?" she added. She stood a little ways outside and called out as quietly as she could. "Darien?"  
  
Meanwhile, Darien was in Raye's room while he heard her call. He stepped outside into the shaded hallway and answered, "Raye? I'm here, in your room."  
  
Raye and the rest of the rest of the girls went there.  
  
"Sorry, Raye," apologized Darien, "I was just changing into your robe. I think it's almost a perfect fit."  
  
Raye and the rest of her friends started to giggle uncontrollably.  
  
"What? What's so funny?" complained Darien.  
  
The girls stopped giggling and Raye reasoned, "You look just like Chad."  
  
Amy quickly added, "And we meant that in a good way."  
  
"Oh," said Darien.   
  
Amy strolled over and asked, "Darien, did you change your bandage yet? If you didn't, I could help you."  
  
He shook his head slightly but then winced in pain. He briefly rubbed it.  
  
"I didn't change it yet, but I think you should because you know how to," replied Darien.  
  
"Well come along then," reminded Amy. She gently grabbed Darien's arm and led him to the bathroom. When they got into the bathroom, Amy ordered, "Sit down Darien. I can't quite reach your height yet."  
  
Darien obediently sat down. Amy then started to unwrap the old bandages carefully, trying not to hurt him. Once in a while, Darien winced in pain as his wound still hurts. He just sat there staring in space, remembering of what the last part of the last battle was like. Inside, he starts to cry, but outside, he tries to hide his expression as best as he could. He bit his tongue, trying not to cry. Raye, Lita, and Mina were carefully opening tubes of ointment and anesthetics in the bathroom. Darien's expression seems to show because Raye asked, "Darien, are you okay?"  
  
He didn't move, nor did he say a word. Raye stopped of what she was doing and asked again, "Darien? Are you okay?"  
  
This time, Darien woke up from staring into space.  
  
"Sorry, Raye," apologized Darien. "I was just thinking about some stuff."  
  
Raye and the other girls already exactly knows what Darien was thinking about; the last battle with Rube.   
  
After a few minutes, Amy have finished patching up Darien's wound. She held onto Darien's shoulders and stared into his eyes as she asked, "There, does that feel better? The whole patching is new."  
  
Darien raised his hand feel his patch as he acknowledged, "It's perfect. Thanks, Amy."  
  
"No problem," marked Amy. She handed him a pain-killer. "Here, you should probably take another one of these. They'll help your head feel better."  
  
Darien took it and obediently took it as he gulped down some water. He got up.  
  
"If you girls don't mind, I'd like to take a little stroll before I hit the sack," replied Darien.  
  
The girls permitted, "Sure."  
  
When Darien walked out, Raye whispered to her friends, "Hey you guys, I think that Darien's taking this pretty hard. We should watch him."  
  
Lita then hung her head as she spoke, trying not to reveal her own tears and sadness, "Yeah-- well, I'm still-- pretty sad about it too." She choked down a sob.  
  
All of the girls looked down as pearls of tears formed in each of their eyes.  
  
"How are we ever going to get Sailormoon back?" asked Mina, with her voice pale.  
  
Amy and Raye started to weep, but Amy pulled herself together.   
  
"Guys, we've got to help Darien," Amy resumed.  
  
Raye straightened herself up too and joined, "Yeah, I mean, he's the one who's going to suffer the most, because of who and what he lost."  
  
"Let's try to help him go through this the way we helped Serena when Darien was the one who was taken," suggested Lita.  
  
"Yeah, he probably needs his friends the most at this time," acknowledged Mina.  
  
The girls nodded their heads in agreement as they went out to look for Darien. They practically searched everywhere before they found him at the temple gong making a wish and at the interior courtyard, looking up at into the stars. The girls watched him from inside the hallway, sadly and concerned. They then turned to face each other, nodding their heads in agreement that they should go over. So quietly, they strolled over to Darien. Raye and the others each placed a comforting hand on Darien's shoulders.   
  
Darien, without turning around, acknowledged, "Aren't they beautiful, girls? They shine like diamonds in the light. Sailormoon must be watching us, if I'm not mistaken."  
  
Raye also stared at the stars and replied, "Don't say that, Darien. Sailormoon isn't gone from us. She's with us, and yes, you're right; she's watching us. She wants us to help her get out of Rube's--whatever."  
  
Amy emphasized, "Darien, not to cause you anymore grief, but Sailormoon went through the same thing when you were gone. She was crying all the time, but after us helping, she knows, that you'll always remember and be with her. She was determined to get you back."  
  
Darien stopped looking at the stars and then glanced over at the moon.  
  
"Every time I see that moon, it makes me sad and feel for her," he explained.  
  
Lita crouched down next to Darien and stared at the moon with him.  
  
"And like we promised, we'll get her back," reminded Lita.  
  
Mina crouched down on the other side, and joined, "We'll do our best, like when we got you back. We'll get her back, no matter what it takes."  
  
Darien looked at all of his girl friends and smiled with tears in his eyes, feeling his head injured wound. His smile reassured the girls that he's going to be all right, even though he's going to be sad for quite a while.  
  
"I know," he answered. He went back looking at the sky, and so did his girl friends. "I know."   
  
  
(To be continued...) The End!!! 


	2. SMTVVTOTM2

SAILORMOON'S FAITH: REMEMBER, DARIEN?  
  
Remember Darien?  
  
It has been two and a half weeks since Sailormoon has been captured by Rube and been put under a spell, almost the same way that happened to Darien before. Now, Darien himself was taking this Sailormoon disappearance thing pretty hard. Finally, Serena's friends decided that they should have some fun for awhile instead of moping all of the time. So, Raye suggested,  
  
"Hey guys, why don't we go to the mall?"   
  
"Good idea," answered Amy. "I need some books and materials from the bookstores."  
  
"And I need some more karate equipment and sporting goods," replied Lita.  
  
"And I just want to shop. I know we're still working on how to get Serena back from the spell, but we really need to let loose," explained Mina.  
  
Everyone walked to the mall.  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, Darien was trying to think a bit clearer.  
  
He thought, "I don't get it. What does Rube want with Sailormoon? What has he done with her anyway? I know that the last time I saw Sailormoon before she getting kidnapped, she was in cautious shape." Well, he stood up and said, "I really need to get out of here. Maybe I should go to the bookstore." He got out of his apartment and walked to the mall.  
  
* * *  
  
Lita, Amy, Lita, and Mina were walking back from the mall at a bright-lighted late evening.  
  
"Oh well, I had a bit of fun," lied Amy. But the mall just reminds her of Serena too much.   
  
"I know I sound crucial, but I miss Serena myself," admitted Raye. "I miss her lagging personality."  
  
"Yeah, me too," answered Mina.  
  
"I miss "Sailormoon" the most," emphasized Lita.  
  
Out of nowhere, a familiar voice sounded out, "Aw, you guys really miss me?"  
  
"Huh?" gasped the girls as they turned around.  
  
"It's----Sailormoon!" cried Amy.  
  
Lita took a step closer to Sailormoon, "Are you---alright?"  
  
Sailormoon let out an evil chuckle. Her costume, instead of her regular one, was a complete black version. Instead of her tiara and crescent-moon symbol on her forehead, the upside-down black crescent-moon was in place of it.  
  
"Hmm," chuckled Sailormoon, "Darling Rube would be please when I gather all of the energy from this clan of girls."  
  
"What!" interrogated Lita. She calm down and cried, "Sailormoon, don't you remember us? We're you're friends! Please, try to remember!"  
  
"Please don't take our energy!" begged Amy.  
  
"Petty begging won't do it at all," said Sailormoon. She lengthened her hair to strap each of the girls around them. They all jumped away into a shape of a square. With a quick slash, Sailormoon lengthened her hair and strapped her necks by the neck, sucking their energy. Each of the girls managed to hold on to some of the hair to not let the hair completely choking them.   
  
Raye tried to use her fireball charms.   
  
"I, call, on the power of Mars! Fireballs, CHARGE!" She sent her charms at Sailormoon's wrath of hair. It wouldn't work.   
  
"Please Sailormoon, let us go!" coughed Lita.  
  
The girls started to collapse on their knees of weakness. Suddenly, the sucking became stronger and faster. The girls started to lose consciousness let loose of the throat clutching hair as they fell to the ground out of consciousness. Their energy was slowly being drained away.  
  
Meanwhile, Darien was walking to the way of the park where the girls are still being attacked. He dropped his economics book as he heard violent and horrifying, familiar screams.  
  
"Where are those screams from?" he questioned. He looked straight ahead and gasped,  
  
"Sailormoon? Is that really her?" He went closer for a closer look.  
  
"Raye! Amy! Lita! Mina!" cried Darien. "What's Sailormoon doing to them!" He ran to the park and gave a quick spin----into Tuxedo Mask. He grabbed four roses and slashed the choking hair off of the girls. The girls just lay there, still unconscious. Tuxedo Mask manage lift each of the girls to a nearby tree for safety.  
  
Sailormoon evilly replied, "Look what we have here. Another human to drain energy out of," smirked Sailormoon.  
  
Tuxedo Mask paced himself toward Sailormoon and replied, "Sailormoon, remember me? I'm your friend, Tuxedo Mask. Please, don't do anymore draining. We really need to talk."  
  
"What's to talk about?" challenged Sailormoon.  
  
"Don't you remember who you really are and were? Don't you remember any of your friends and past? Please, let me help you. Rube is controlling you under his own spell, and I can help you," explained Tuxedo Mask. He took off his top-hat and mask. "Remember?"  
  
"Enough sweet talk, Tuxedo Mask," replied Sailormoon. She slashed her hair aiming for Darien. He jumped out the way. The second time, he wasn't too lucky. He jumped to where another nearby tree as Sailormoon slashed her hair, strapping Darien on the neck, waist, wrists and each of his knees.  
  
"Dahhh!" cried Darien. He clenched his teeth and squinted his eyes for more strength.  
  
Lita, Raye, Amy and Mina then woke up dazed, and a bit weak. Raye, the first one to see, gasped,  
  
"Oh no! Tuxedo Mask! Darien! He's in big trouble. We've got to help him!"   
  
"His energy is going to be sucked out of him just like us!" cried Amy.  
  
"Let's go!" cried Lita, in Sailorscout mood.  
  
"Right!" agreed everyone.  
  
They raised their right hands and wands up into the air as they transformed and cried their magic words,  
  
Raye: "Mars, star, power!"  
  
Amy: "Mercury star power!"  
  
Lita: "Jupiter, star, power!"  
  
Mina: "Venus, star, power!"  
  
Everyone finished transforming (in the order of above). Sailormars, angered, took her place of using her weapon first (in an angry and impatient tone, even though she's weak)  
  
"Mars, celestial, fire, SURROUND!"  
  
Sailorjupiter was next in line;  
  
"Jupiter, thunder-claps, ZAP!"  
  
Sailormercury was next;  
  
"Mercury ice-star BLAST!"  
  
Sailorvenus took her turn with quickness;  
  
"Venus, love-chain ENCIRCLE!"  
  
All of the weapons quickly slashed the strapping, clutching, choking hair ropes of Sailormoon off of Darien.  
  
"Sailorscouts, are you all alright!" asked Darien, coughing for a breath.  
  
"Yeah, but a bit tired," answered Sailormercury.  
  
"Good," resumed Darien as he got up. "We've got to try to get Sailormoon back to her normal self again! Before it's too late!"  
  
"Right!" agreed the Scouts with unison.  
  
"Ha! You can sure try!" challenged Sailormoon. She threw out her hairs again. Everyone jumped out of the way. Everyone kept jumping out the way until probably the tenth time. Everyone caught caught and strapped except Sailormars. She fell back, landing on her bottom.  
  
"No, you guys!" cried Sailormars.   
  
"Sailormars, help!" cried Mercury.  
  
"I'm coming!" promised Mars. She then sprinted toward her friends and Sailormoon. Mars threw a kick, but Sailormoon was faster she spun around with a killer kick back at Mars. Mars, who was unfortunately too slow, got kicked and was sent right on her back onto the face of a tree, screaming. Looks like she fallen unconscious.  
  
"No, Raye!" cried Darien.  
  
"Raye! Sailormars! Get up!" implored Jupiter.  
  
Raye woke up and shook her head. "Ow," she replied. She regained her angry mood and cried, "Sailormoon! Let go of our friends! Please!" She charged under the fiery power of Mars and cried,  
  
"Mars, Celestial, Fire, SURROUND!" She then spun around and cried,  
  
"Mars, Fire, IGNITE!" Sailormars spun around again with fire escaping from her and cried,  
  
"Mars, Firebird, STRIKE!" With one final spin in the air she cried with all of her strength and the strength of Mars,  
  
"I, call, on the power of MARS!!!! Fireballs, (total strips together into a connected large scroll CHARGE!!!!!!!"  
  
All of her Mars weapons blasted towards Sailormoon's power of choking, energy zapping hair and undid the wrath of the choking. Mars' friends darted back, gasping for air and then got right back up.  
  
"Jupiter, thunder-claps, ZAP!"  
  
"Venus, love-chain ENCIRCLE!"  
  
"Mercury bubbles BLAST!"  
  
All of the scouts' power overpowered Sailormoon and then fell to the ground. Her clothes were back to the normal warrior costume as she's unconscious.  
  
"We did it! It's the old Serena and Sailormoon!" rejoiced the scouts. Darien was also happy but didn't jump up and down. Suddenly, a black see-through force-field of lightning and cloud surrounded Serena and took her away.  
  
"Huh?" gasped the scouts.   
  
"Oh no!" cried Mercury.  
  
"Not again!" cried Venus as she fell on to her knees.  
  
"I really thought that the old Sailormoon was back," replied Mars.   
  
Darien closed his eyes in pain as he turned his head to the right and said, "It's Rube." He then gasped as he saw some flashbacks on when he himself was going through this.  
  
* * *  
  
Back at headquarters of the Negamoon, Rube watch his evil-to-become Sailormoon lie on a counter top. He thought,  
  
"Those annoying Sailorscouts, what nuisances! Especially that pretty scout Sailormars; she's did most of that wretched healing. Huh; all of the scouts are pretty, but looks like I captured one of the most powerful and beautiful ones to be my wife. I'll get those scouts next time; especially that Sailormars and Tuxedo Mask. Oh, doesn't matter; I captured Tuxedo Mask's, or should I say, 'Neo-King Darien's,' wife. He'll get his, soon enough. Maybe I should individually capture all of the Sailorscouts and turn them onto my side and let them become my wives. I'll turn them against that Tuxedo Mask and be rid of him. Wait--- if I turn all of the scouts to my side, I'll have a hard time to control them all at the same time. Well, might as well drop that stupid idea. As long as I have Sailormoon as my wife and working for the Negamoon, I think that the scouts will certainly fall apart. But--I'll go on to try to destroy that pretty Sailormars, then Sailorjupiter, then Sailorvenus and Mercury. I'm sure that Tuxedo Mask will certainly just fall apart without his beloved companions and girlfriends. Then, I will be rid of him." He then chuckled as he began to turn Sailormoon to his side----again.  
  
* * *  
  
Mars and the rest of the scouts stood under a tree and tried to figure out a way to get Sailormoon back.  
  
"How are we going to do it? How are we going to get Serena back to our side?" questioned Venus.  
  
"And how long is it going to take?" asked Mercury.  
  
"Yeah, how are we going to do it?" questioned Jupiter. She glanced over of where Darien was standing with his back standing against the Scouts', throwing roses into the ground. On each of the roses were drops of tears.  
  
"The same way we got Darien back to our side," spoke up Mars, with her back turned.  
  
"Huh?" asked everyone in surprise.  
  
"Raye's right," stammered Darien.  
  
Everyone turned to him.  
  
"That's the only way we'll get her back," replied Darien.  
  
Jupiter started to show her dark side;  
  
"I'd love to to get my hands on that Rube! I'm looking forward to fight him!"  
  
"Chill, Jupiter," replied Venus. "We don't even know how to get into his world; where ever that is."  
  
Mars clenched her hand, "I'm ready to use some fire to burn him up! Let's see if he likes to eat flames!"  
  
She walked over to the clearing of the park and said in front of her friends, "I'll be glad to take on Rube anytime!"  
  
Just then Rube appeared right behind Mars and challenged, "How about now, Mars?"  
  
Mars gasped as she turned around, slightly. Rube was faster. He cupped his mouth against Mars as he looked into Mars eyes.  
  
"You know it's shame that you, Mars, and the rest of your friends are such pretty scouts. I'll be glad to either destroy you; or make you become my marriage companion."  
  
Mars tried to free herself from Rube's grasp as she coughed out,   
  
"I'll never become your wife! Now let Sailormoon go!"  
  
"Let her go!" ordered Darien. "You captured Sailormoon already, and isn't that enough?"  
  
"No," replied Rube.  
  
"Well, let's see you captured this, you sleezoiod!" cried Jupiter. She stood back two steps;  
  
"Jupiter, thunderclaps, ZAP!"  
  
Rube jumped out of the way.  
  
"Hah! Missed!" cried Rube. "Is that all you've got, Pretty Jupiter?"  
  
He held out a sharp looking piercing weapon and aimed it at Mars side.   
  
"You're coming with me, Mars!" cried Rube. "But first, let's trap your friends and your ex-boyfriend Tuxedo Mask first." Rube sent a lengthy chain to tie up the rest of the scouts and Tuxedo Mask.   
  
"You guys!" cried Mars.  
  
"Now, where was I?" questioned Rube. "Oh, yes." He raised his "piercer" high up into the air.  
  
Darien desperately tried to loosen the chain. He looked at his ex Mars.  
  
"NO!" cried Darien.  
  
Raye strained herself, then stomped on Rube's foot. He cried out in pain as he let go of Mars partially. Mars then swung two of her most powerful kicks at Rube. Rube got slammed onto the ground. As he was slammed on the ground, his weapon accidentally slashed across Mars upper right arm and hip.  
  
"Ahhhh! AAAUhhh, my arm! My hip!" cried Mars. She landed onto the ground, then tried to get up. It was no use. She couldn't get up, but drag herself across the ground in pain.  
  
Darien looked in horror as he cried, "Sailormars! Raye!"  
  
"Raye, are you alright?" asked Mercury.  
  
Mars finally managed to stand up, trembling and losing quite a bit of blood. She then cried,   
  
"Mars---, Cel--estial, Fire, SURROUND!"  
  
The tying chains were cut, and the scouts were free. Mars turned to Rube and stammered, "Now--your turn to be--fired up! Not unless you free Sailormoon!"  
  
"You didn't bargain, Mars! I'll never give up that pretty blonde! See ya'!" Rube disappeared.  
  
Mars was just a few feet away from the Scouts and Darien. She staggered around and tried raising her hand to form a stop sign. Instead, she just collapsed. Luckily, Darien rushed and caught her in time.  
  
"Is she going to be alright?" asked Mercury.  
  
Darien felt her pulse. He slowly looked up and replied, "Her pulse is bit unsteady, but we can't take her to the hospital."  
  
Sailorvenus crouched down and looked at Mar's arm.  
  
"Darien, do you have a kind of wrapping utensil? We've got to stop her bleeding," requested Venus.  
  
Tuxedo Mask reached into his pocked and found two cloths.  
  
"Will these do, Mercury?" Darien asked.  
  
"Yes, I suppose," answered Mercury as she and Jupiter crouched down.  
  
"We can't afford to lose Mars as we did to Sailormoon," pointed out Jupiter.   
  
Mercury ordered, "Darien, lay her down and tie this tightly around her arm. Venus, try stop the bleeding of her hip."  
  
They settled to work as Darien remarked,   
  
"Let's take her to my place. "I have some antibiotics for Raye's injuries."  
  
"Alright, let's go," agreed the Scouts. Darien carried Raye as they rushed to Darien's apartment.  
  
* * *  
  
"Here, Jupiter. These are the keys. Open the door," ordered Darien. He tucked at Raye's hip.  
  
Jupiter fumbled with the keys and finally opened the door. Darien carefully held Mar's neck and head in place as he laid Mar's onto one of his guest beds and straightened her up.  
  
Without even changing out of his Tuxedo Mask tux, Darien scrambled to the main bathroom and snatched some of his roll-up bandages, water, washcloth and antibiotics. When Darien made his entrance back into the room, he quickly saw that Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter had already removed the old bandages.  
  
"Here, wipe some of the old blood of her suit," Venus said.   
  
"Mar's wounds aren't that severe," explained Mercury. "her arm will be just fine. Her side wasn't too seriously cut also."  
  
"Mars should stay here overnight," replied Darien, strapping Raye's arm. "You girls can, too, if you want."  
  
The Scouts looked at each other and then nodded their heads.  
  
"Alright, we'll stay over," answered Mercury.  
  
"Yeah, we probably would need to in order watch after Raye," replied Jupiter.  
  
Venus turned to Darien and replied, "You won't be able to watch over Raye all by yourself. We could help you." She then turned to Mercury. "Mercury," she added, "you're a major in the medical field. Do you think that you could prescribe anything that could help Raye?"  
  
Mercury glanced at Raye and Darien and answered, "I think I could give it a try. But let's get out of our costumes first."  
  
The Scouts gave a quick spin and back into their original clothes. After doing a bit of a tap on Mars, she changed back into her original clothes.  
  
Darien changed also and then replied, "Why don't you girls get your PJ's from your homes and come back here? I keep a watch over Raye."  
  
"Uh, Darien--," started off Amy.  
  
"What?" responded Darien.  
  
"She's going to be okay," assured Amy. She took out a traveling package of alcohol and a medium tube of ointment anesthetic and handed them to Darien.   
  
"Why don't you change Raye's bandages?" suggested Amy. "Then you could use a small cloth, pour a bit of alcohol then water on it to wash the old anesthetics. You then could apply some of this ointment on the injured places." She looked down at her feet as she continued, "I'll go back to my house and get my medication kit."  
  
"Alright," answered Darien. He pulled up some sheets onto Raye.  
  
"We'll see you later," saluted Lita.  
  
"See you," replied Darien.  
  
* * *  
  
While the rest of the girls were heading to their homes to get their PJ's, Darien started to set up some extra blankets, sheets, beds, and sleeping bags for the girls. Meanwhile he also kept watch over Raye. Quite a few times, Raye groaned and moaned, sweating hoarsefully.   
  
"Oh, Raye," replied Darien, "you're sweating so much. You're going to lose a lot of fluids in your body." He went over and wiped some sweat off of Raye's forehead. "I'll promise you that I'll get Rube for this." Once again, he wiped Raye's sweat off. "Hmm, maybe I should get you some water and some juice. I'll be right back." Darien walked off.  
  
* * *  
  
At Amy's house, she stood before her cabinet of all kinds of medical products. She thought back in her medical class at her school.  
  
"What was the best kind of antibiotic and soother for a severe cut?" she asked herself. Amy then continued thinking, "Well, for sure, I need to bring quite a few rolls of bandages, gauze pads, and tape. I'll get those first. Now, back to the antibiotics. I could probably bring this strong cleansing product to prevent infection and bacteria spreading. I could also probably more tubes of the ointment I gave Darien to use on Raye, and some fresh herbs. Well, I'm all packed up; let's go! Oh--wait. I forgot to get my PJ's. Well, I'll just bring my short 'short-sleeved' lavender-colored nightgown." Amy grabbed all of her necessary things, placed them in her large backpack, and started to hurry back to Darien's place.  
  
* * *  
  
At Lita's house, she dressed into her exercise PJ suit underneath her clothes, brought her pager-beeper, and went back to Darien's.  
  
Mina did the same with her sleeveless, above-the-knee nightgown. She brought an extra long T-shirt with her just in case.  
  
* * *  
  
When the girls got back to Darien's place, Darien silently opened the door.  
  
"I placed extra blankets on the two couches in guest room where Raye's in," whispered Darien in the living room. "Sorry, girls, but one of you have to sleep in the sleeping bag on the floor. There isn't enough room."  
  
Amy replied and thanked, "Oh, that's quite alright, Darien. We don't mind."  
  
"Yeah, it doesn't matter," agreed Lita.  
  
"Ditto," remarked Mina.  
  
Back in the room where Raye was in resting, she suddenly coughed out. Raye then opened her eyes slowly and glanced around the room.  
  
"Where am I?" questioned Raye very softly to herself. She tried looking around the room a bit more, coming upon the top of a dresser with a lamp and some pictures on top of it.  
  
"Huh? Where am I?" Raye asked louder. She tried turning to her left side, but her right hip hurt in pain and arm. She then tried again, this time slowly. Raye saw that there were tons of pictures in picture frames. One of them had a younger Darien in his high school graduation cap and gown holding his diploma. Another one has Andrew and Rita in it. Two other pictures show only Serena in them. To the front was a picture of Serena and all of the "scouts", and there was picture of Darien with all of the "scouts." Some other singular pictures each showed: one with Raye, one with Mina, one with Lita, and one with Amy. The final picture had only Darien with his arm around Serena's shoulder. Raye then turned back to lie back down.   
  
"Darien? Amy? Lita? Mina?" called out Raye.  
  
Darien and the girls from outside stopped their talking and froze.  
  
"Did you hear something?" asked Amy.  
  
"I don't know," answered Lita. "I didn't hear anything."  
  
Changing the subject, Darien suggested, "Why don't we see how Raye's doing, OK?"  
  
Everyone agreed.  
  
"Darien?" called out Raye again.  
  
This time, Darien was sure of what he heard. He rushed to Raye's room.   
  
"Hey, Raye, you're alright! You're awake!" cried Darien in happiness and relief.   
  
The rest of the girls tagged along.  
  
"Hi, Raye," greeted Lita.  
  
"How are you feeling?" asked Amy and Mina together.  
  
"Better," answered Raye. She paused, then continued, "Where am I?"  
  
Darien responded, "You're in my place, Raye."  
  
"Oh, I thought so with all of those pictures here," replied Raye. "Just out of curiosity, guys, how did I exactly get here? The last thing I remembered was when I was slashed by Rube."  
  
All Raye's friends looked at Darien.  
  
"Well," started off Lita, "after you fell unconscious, Darien and we had to bring you back here, in his place. He had to carry you here, and we just came back from our houses to bring back some stuff to stay for the night."  
  
Raye turned to Darien and replied, "Darien, maybe I should go home. I don't want to trouble you in your place. Thanks for taking care of me; I feel much better. I should be going." She struggled up slowly, but then cried, "Ouch!!!" She collapsed and then tried again.  
  
Darien and Amy came over to Raye.  
  
"It's alright," responded Darien. "I want you to stay overnight to see if you're okay tomorrow. If not, you could then stay here for a few more days, or I could take you to the hospital."  
  
"O--kay," stammered Raye. She went right back into bed.  
  
"Do you want anything?" asked Lita. "Your comics, clothes, anything?"  
  
Raye started, "I guess you could bring my temple robe and my books. Thanks, Lita."  
  
"No problem," answered Lita. "I go right now." She then almost left the room.  
  
Darien turned to everyone before Lita left, and explained, "I prepared the places for you girls to sleep. You all could choose a place to stay."  
  
"Thanks, Darien," thanked Mina with a appealing smile.   
  
"Darien, why don't we help Raye change her bandages?" suggested Amy. "I brought my medication kit as well as my herb kit. We could use these now."  
  
Before Darien could reply, Raye said, "Sure Amy, but Darien, can I use your bathroom? I have to wash and... you know."  
  
"Sure, sure, Raye," responded Darien. He took her arm and her back as he helped Raye up. "Let me help you, " volunteered Darien.  
  
Raye started to slide off the bed very slowly and limped slowly to the bathroom with Darien and Mina at her sides taking an arm each. At some points even when Mina and Darien helped her, she staggered and almost collapsed. Raye was pretty dazed, dizzy, and tired, but she felt truly a lot better. By the time they reached half way to the bathroom, Raye could walk there by herself, except along way that she collapsed a few times. She closed the door behind her, and after about five minutes, she came out.  
  
"Maybe you should get back into bed, Raye," suggested Amy. "I have some medication that you should take to rest, alright?"  
  
"Alright," agreed Raye. She slid under the covers slowly. Amy then took out some pills, herb-fresh ointment, and some clean, new bandages. She handed the herbal ointment to Mina while the bandages went to Darien.   
  
"Here, take these two pills," gently ordered Amy, "and drink this water."  
  
Raye took the pills and immediately felt drowsy.   
  
"Hold still Raye," said Amy. She unwrapped Raye's old bandages and Mina applied some herbal ointment. Raye squirmed a bit when she felt a stinge of pain when unwrapping her bandages and applying the ointment. Darien handed the bandages to Amy and then plastered them on Raye. After that, Raye went to sleep.  
  
Darien then whispered, "Why don't we go to the living room. It's only eight o'clock. You girls could do something here if you want. We'll let Raye rest for a while."  
  
Everyone agreed and then walked into the living room. But suddenly there was a loud crash and then a pink flash of bright light as the ground shook. Darien and the other girls yelled, but not too loudly to wake up Raye. They tried to stand together. Everyone covered their eyes. There was then a firm knock on Darien's door. It opened, and Lita quietly walked in.   
  
"Hi," greeted Lita, softly. She carried a her little bag that was filled with Raye's comics and clothes.  
  
"What's up?" whispered Lita.  
  
"Lita, did you hear a loud crash and then see a very blinding flash of pink light?" asked Mina.  
  
"I heard the crash and I saw the light," explained Lita, placing the bag of Raye's things gently on the ground. "Do you think that this could another one of those lame Negaverse gigs? It seems really likely for me."  
  
"You do have a point point there, Lita, " replied Darien.   
  
"Should we go and check it out?" asked Amy.  
  
"We probably should," replied Lita.  
  
"Yeah, Rube might be back to look for Ra-- I mean Mars and us," replied Mina.  
  
"Let's go!" cried Lita.  
  
Amy, Lita and Mina took out their wands and cried their magic words;  
  
"Mercury, star, power!"  
  
"Jupiter, star, power!"  
  
"Venus, star, power!"  
  
Everyone transformed, except Darien. He then said, "You scouts go on ahead. I'll be there soon. I want to make sure if Raye is okay."  
  
"Alright then!" cried Lita, softly. "Sailorscouts, charge!" The scouts went out onto Darien's balcony and jumped onto the ground, ten stories below. They started running as Darien watched. After the scouts were out of Darien's sight, he went back into Raye's room to check on her. Darien knelt down and patted Raye on the forehead, and said, "Raye, I'm going out to help the other scouts. I hope that you'll be okay." He then went out to the balcony and transformed -- right into Tuxedo Mask. He jumped leaped off the balcony and started to track down the rest of the fighting scouts-- where they were in Tokyo Park.   
  
Meanwhile, in the park, Mercury turned on her VR Visor and took out her mini-data computer. She started to analyze everything in search of clues. Jupiter walked around the certain place where Mercury detected some strong vibrations in fighting stance. Venus just investigated the place.   
  
Suddenly, Rube appeared right in front of the scouts.  
  
"Hello, Scouts," greeted Rube. "Where is Mars?"  
  
Jupiter, still in fighting stance, responded angrily, "She's hurt in bed, you fungus! Thanks to you, she's seriously injured! And you're going to pay for that!"  
  
"Oh really?" challenged Rube. He threw a strong electrical force at the scouts. The scouts got blasted away and landed on their butts. Suddenly, a rose slashed Rube across his arm and landed right in front of him.  
  
"Ow!" cried Rube. He looked up across from himself, and saw Tuxedo Mask standing there.  
  
"Don't you dare hurt these girls, you Negaskum!" ordered Tuxedo Mask.   
  
Rube recovered, and then smirked, "Give up now, Tuxedo Mask! You too, scouts!"  
  
"Never!" cried out Tuxedo Mask before the scouts could even react. Slowly, they got off their butts and all took fighting stance.   
  
"You won't give up?" smirked Rube again. "Not even to see your girlfriend, Sailormoon?"  
  
Tuxedo Mask lowered his staff and looked a bit more pale and frightened.  
  
"You know, if you don't give up, Tuxedo Mask, I'm afraid that you won't be able to hold your precious Sailormoon again," Rube evilly replied. "Anyhow, she's 'my' companion now, so you really can't do a thing about it."  
  
From inside, Darien was crying, but on the outside he started to burst with anger with a bit of tears. From inside, he wept, "If he's telling the truth, maybe I could get into his world and save Serena all by myself."  
  
"Whatever you're doing to her, stop it!" fumed Tuxedo Mask.  
  
"You won't give up?" asked Rube. He then disappeared.  
  
Everyone looked around.   
  
Jupiter replied, "Huh? Where did he go?"  
  
"Right here, Jupiter!" whammed Rube. He slammed his arm right on Jupiter, but she caught his throw.  
  
"Nice try, Rube," commented Jupiter. She kicked and threw him to a tree. "But you're not fast enough."   
  
She then cried, "Jupiter, thunder claps, ZAP!" Rube darted out of the ways.  
  
Rube came charging and Jupiter and him started to fight. Jupiter swung her karate throws, punches, kicks, and blocks. Rube didn't even get hit by anyone of them. He raised his hand, preparing to fire a bolt and Jupiter.  
  
Meanwhile, at Darien's apartment, Raye woke up, at eight-thirty p.m. She sat up quickly, resisting the pain that aches her body.   
  
"Huh? Where is everyone?" she asked. She climbed out of bed and searched the whole apartment. Suddenly, a vision hit her. She saw that the Scouts needed her.  
  
"Don't worry, Scouts, I'm coming!" limped Raye as powerfully as she could.  
  
She raised her wand and cried with as much strength as possible, and transformed,  
  
"Mars, star, power!"  
  
Afterward, she ran as fast she could to where other scouts were. Along way, she collapsed because of her arm and side pain. Its was far painful, but Sailormars tried to get up. Her body wants her to stop and let the pain take over, but Mars, said to herself,  
  
"I've--got to-- save-- the others!" Her resisted to pain, got up, and continued running to the park.  
  
Meanwhile and the park, Sailorjupiter just finished combating with Rube and was gasping for breath.  
  
"Very impressive, Sailorjupiter," sarcastically acknowledged Rube, "You didn't land a single punch."  
  
"I was just warming up, hot shot!" gasped Jupiter.  
  
Tuxedo Mask suddenly saw a vision, and then gasped.   
  
"Why does those words between Rube and Jupiter sound so familiar?" he asked himself. Then he gasped, remembering. "The time that Jupiter ever said that was when I was under Barrel's spell, and she fighting against me! Jupiter is going to get hurt!"  
  
"Rube!" called out Darien. "Why don't let the lady aside, hmmm? Why don't you just fight me?"  
  
"Forget it!" turned down Rube. "I'm going to enjoy destroying these scouts, one by one." He raised his hand up high to form a pink flask of lightning, aiming that at the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask, particularly Sailorjupiter. Rube was just about to let that bolt go until a familiar voice cried out quickly,  
  
"Mars, fire, ignite!"  
  
A fireflame burned Rube's hand and he grabbed it. When the fire cleared, everyone saw Sailormars in a "model" look standing up at the top of a nearby high wall.  
  
"I'm back Rube!" cried out Mars. She then leaped down, in front of her friends.  
  
"Mars, how could you survive that slash? This is impossible!" exclaimed Rube.  
  
"I could, you slime-myster!" retorted Mars.  
  
Mercury came over to Mars and asked, "Mars, are you really alright?"  
  
"Yeah," replied Mars, "But I'm a bit tired."  
  
"Right, Scouts," snorted Rube. He then disappeared.  
  
"Huh?" asked Raye. "Where did he go?"  
  
Rube then appeared behind Mars, and grabbed her waist.  
  
"Owwwww!" cried Mars. Her hip still ached and stung in pain. "Not again!"   
  
"Yes, again!" cried Rube. "But this time, I'm using my pink lightning bolt. Once it gets inside you, your energy will fade, and you'll be history!" He cackled an evil cackle.  
  
"Mercury, ice-star, blast!" shouted Mercury.  
  
Rube saw what Mercury aimed at him, so he leaped away. He sent an electrical chain and tied everyone else up, like before. Jupiter and the others tried to break free.  
  
"This--shouldn't--be--so hard--to--AHHHHHH!" cried Jupiter. She screamed when she tried to break the chains. Jupiter just fell unconscious, hanging her head down. Tuxedo Mask, who was right next to Jupiter, managed to gently kick Jupiter to make her wake up.  
  
"Jupiter!" cried Darien. "Lita! Get up!"  
  
Rube just snickered, "Ha! That electrical chain just zapped most of the energy out of her! No one could ever get free from that chain; not now, not ever! Ha, ha, ha!"  
  
Mars, tried to stomped on Rube again, but missed. Rube glanced down at Mars, and replied, "And now for you, Mars!" He prepared his hand.  
  
Tuxedo Mask cried, "Sailormars! Raye! NO!!!!!!!"  
  
Just when things looked hopeless, an oldtime, familiar voice cried out, "Aries, fire-flames, FLASH!!"  
  
Two fire flames flashed right onto Rube's legs, and he cried,"OWWW!" He didn't free Mars, though.  
  
Everyone looked up and saw a darkened shadowed shape of a girl in a similar costume as the scouts with her hair tied up in a ponytail. No one could see her face though.  
  
"Who's up there?" asked Rube to the girl standing on the wall. He looked down, and then back up again. The girl wasn't there.  
  
"Wha---what?" asked Darien.  
  
Jupiter, who woke up right at the girls words, asked the same.  
  
Darien tried to glance all around. He didn't see the girl.  
  
"Oh well," replied Rube. "Back to business. Now, let's use my famous slasher at this beauty scout here." He raised the same slasher that slashed Mars before.  
  
Darien watched in horror as he said inside, "Not Raye too! I don't this happen to Raye the same way that this happened to Serena!"  
  
Suddenly, a group of familiar oldtime girl voices in unison altogether commanded, "Drop it Negasleeze, if you know what's good for you!"  
  
This time, all of the scouts, Tuxedo Mask, and Rube looked up. This time, they saw a group of seven girls of different colored costumes standing in fighting stance staring down at them. the moonlight shoned behind the new girls.  
  
"What?" asked Tuxedo Mask. "Who are you all? And why do you look so familiar?"  
  
The girls said nothing as they jumped down altogether, landing in the same type of positions as they were before. The girls then cried altogether, "We're the Starlight Soldieresses of the Zodiac! And we say to let go of the Sailorscouts, NOW!"  
  
"Heh," snickered Rube, "well, if it isn't my oldtime archrivals, the Starlights. Looking fine there, Libra."  
  
"Cut the pretty talk, Rube," ordered the pretty, brave soldier called Starlight Libra. "Almost delighted to see you, too. Now let the scouts go!" She then turned to her team, and cried, "Introduce yourselves, girls!"  
  
One by one, the Starlights introduced themselves.  
  
"I, am, Starlight Aries!" cried out the Soldieress seen earlier, in a dark red costume and red scrunchied ponytail. She took her fighting stance style form while her jet black hair whipper around.  
  
"I'm Starlight Sagittarius!" cried out the flower ponytailed brunette in a light-shaded purple costume. She took her fighting stance.   
  
"I'm Starlight Scorpio!" announced the girl in the red costume. She's another brunette with little bow on the top of her head. She then took her very creative fighting stance.   
  
A very beautiful blonde (with a beautiful blossom as a bow on the top of her head) dressed in a dark violet costume then spoke up, "Starlight Virgo!" Just like the first introduced Starlight Soldieresses, she took her fighting stance.  
  
"I, am, Starlight Cancer!" proclaimed another ebony-head girl with blossoms as barrettes at the side of her head for her hair. The girl was dressed in a beautiful light green costume. She demonstrated her moves, then took her place in fighting stance.  
  
"Starlight Aquarius!" declared another brunette in the light blue costume. Everyone could tell right away that she was the bearer of the water, with her way of taking her fighting stance.  
  
And finally, last but not least, the most beautiful girl (who happens to be the leader of the whole group) dressed in the dazzling yellow costume with her ebony black hair tied in a yellow bow with a tiny silver crown on her head introduced, "And I'm Starlight Libra, leader of the whole group of Starlight Soldieresses! If you don't let the Sailorscouts go, I shall punish you, on behalf of the Libra and the whole zodiac!"  
  
All of the Starlights took their nearby positions in fighting stances and cried, "We're the Starlight Soldieresses, and we order you to let the Sailor Scouts go!"  
  
Rube just chuckled, "Pathetic. I'll never let go of these scouts, especially Sailormoon!"  
  
"Try this on for size, creep!" cried out Starlight Aries. She prepared her hands for using her power,  
  
"Aries, fire-flames, FLASH!!!"  
  
Two coils of fire caught Rube's hand on fire. This time, he did indeed let go of Sailormars. She fell and coughed.  
  
"Starlight Aries! Long time no see!" cried Mars. "Thanks for your help!"  
  
"Anytime, Mars," replied Aries, glancing quickly then back at Rube.  
  
"Baby Aries!" shouted Rube. "Let's see if you like to get toasted!"  
  
"Dream on, you sorry excuse for a living matter!" cried out Starlight Libra before Aries.  
  
"Libra, Venus, cosmos and fireworks, BLAST!" Libra cried. She sent tons of cosmos with little fireworks on them at Rube. He got burned and blasted away right onto a nearby tree.   
  
Meanwhile, Scorpio, Virgo, and Sagittarius worked on trying to free the scouts and Tuxedo Mask.  
  
Virgo stood back and commanded, "Virgo, flowers, bouquet, SLASH!!!"  
  
Sagittarius then cried, "Sagittarius arrows; aim, FIRE!!!"  
  
Finally, Scorpio ordered, "Scorpio, fire-star, SMASH!!!"  
  
The electrical chains snapped off, and the Scouts and Darien were freed.  
  
"Thank you, Starlights," complimented Darien.  
  
"No prob',"replied the Starlights with a smile.  
  
Darien, then cried, "Let's help your other friends, Starlights and scouts!"  
  
"OK!" cried Virgo, Sagittarius, and Scorpio, as well as the rest of the Scouts.  
  
The battle of the Starlights and the Scouts together against Rube wasn't going too well. Rube had some of the Scouts and Starlights cornered, especially Starlight Libra and Sailormars. They were on their bottoms, slowly scooting back away from Rube. He turned to Starlight Libra and replied,   
  
"Starlight Libra, if you ever want to survive, give up that Star Wand!"  
  
"That's ancient business, you Negacreep!" cried Starlight Libra. "Anyway, you'll never lay a single one of your hands on it!"  
  
Rube then turned to Mars, "And you might as well give up, pretty Mars! Don't you want to see Sailormoon again? If you want to, you'll give up!"  
  
"You let Sailormoon go, monster!" futed Mars. "And I'll never give up!"  
  
"Well then," retorted Rube. He grabbed Starlight Libra by the front of her costume, and replied right in her face, "You're coming with me to join Sailormoon."  
  
"Let, me, go!" screamed Starlight Libra. She tried to use her karate moves.  
  
Suddenly, a guy's, oldtime familiar voice commanded, "You heard the girl; let her go, or you'll be the pleasure to my sword!"  
  
Another guy's familiar voice also cried out, "Night, love-light beams, FLASH!"  
  
The love-light beams threw Rube off course of Libra and Mars. Everyone looked up, and saw two guys in a prince-like military suit and cape. The two guys jumped down. One of them, Cosmic Caper, came down and helped Libra to her feet. He quickly kissed her.  
  
"You alright?" asked Caper.  
  
"Yeah, thanks," responded Libra.  
  
All of the Starlights and Scouts stood up.  
  
"And now for you, Rube!" cried Libra.  
  
"You're history!" cried the Starlights.  
  
"I don't think so," replied Rube. "This isn't over, Sailorscouts! And Starlights, stay out of this! This isn't your business!"  
  
"When there's a matter concerning you and particularly the Scouts', it is our problem!" confronted Starlight Libra.  
  
"Ha! This isn't over, humans!" Rube cried. He then disappeared.  
  
Darien tried to catch him as he threw a rose. The rose just went into a cloud, then went back out onto the grass. He then turned back to the scouts and Starlights.  
  
"We're sorry we couldn't get him, Tuxedo Mask," apologized Libra.   
  
Darien went looked at everyone.   
  
"It isn't you guys fault," spoke Tuxedo Mask.  
  
Everyone, including the Starlight Soldieresses transformed back into their normal selves.  
  
Dya Chang Liu (Starlight Libra, and Patrick's future wife) came forward, with a smile on her perky little face.   
  
"Darien, Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina; nice to see you again! I haven't seen you in a long time," replied Dya.  
  
"Like Raye said, long time no see!" said Lea Liang (Starlight Aries).  
  
"I don't even remember exactly when was the last time we saw each other," pointed out Melanie Brooks (Starlight Scorpio).  
  
Lita glanced over at Shannon Sweet (Starlight Sagittarius), and replied, "I'm so glad to see you!"  
  
"Yeah!" agreed Melisa Kates (Starlight Aquarius).  
  
"I'm with Melisa, everyone," responded Stephanie Chen (Starlight Cancer).  
  
Everyone chuckled.  
  
"Darien," started off Darien Lee (Night Phantom), "are you okay? You seem really down. From when I could remember, you never looked so sad before."  
  
Darien almost started crying. "Well--, it's--, oh, never mind."  
  
"You sure?" suggested Patrick Darien Liu (Cosmic Caper, future husband of Dya, and mostly called, "Dar'").  
  
Darien nodded, and then perked up a smile as best as he could. "Thanks for coming to our rescue, P.D.," replied Darien, as cheerfully as possible.  
  
"Anytime, Tux,'" joked Patrick Darien Liu.  
  
"We have to go. Nice to see all of you again."  
  
"Same here," agreed Raye and the other girls.  
  
"See you around," replied Darien. Then the Starlights left.  
  
Meanwhile, Lita came over to Raye, and asked, "How's your hip?"  
  
"A lot better," responded Raye. "I don't even feel the pain anymore."  
  
"That's good," answered Mina.  
  
Amy walked over to Darien (who's looking at the moon again) and patted his shoulder, "Darien, she's still here. She's always going to be here with you. But we'll find a way to bring her back."  
  
Darien glanced down at Amy, who nodded.  
  
"I hope you're right," replied Darien. He went back to stare at the moon.  
  
"We'll find a way," promised Raye, "no matter how long or how hard it takes."  
  
(To be continued...) The End!!! 


	3. SMTVVTOTM3

SAILORMOON'S FAITH: SURPRISE ATTACK; RELATED TO RUBE, BUT WHAT DOES HE WANT?"  
  
Surprise Attack From Another Enemy:  
  
Related to Rube, But What Does He Want?  
  
The phone rang. Darien hazily crawled out of bed to answer it as he was trying to think about him and Serena, to be short.  
  
It's been about a month when Sailormoon (Serena) has been captured by the Negamoon. So far, they've encountered one attack by them, and they saw the evil Sailormoon for the first time. Everyone was coping with the situation seriously, particularly Darien. He went to the extremes of crying himself to sleep with nightmares just about every night, not participating too much with his other Scout friends, and going into deep levels of depression. He was just about suicidal. Yet, he never actually lost control; he knew that he couldn't break Serena's promise that he'd watch and take care of the Scouts, Renee, and the Crystal. Many times the girls tried to talk to him and get his mind off this, but it wasn't enough to stop his constant pain. Renee's still staying at 20th century Tokyo, even though that her city and parents in the future are fine. She knows everyone's identities, and that Darien and Serena are her future parents. She, surprisingly, was also crying for her mother's past self.  
  
Anyway, she was in the living room of Darien's apartment, trying to think things out. She was thinking, "Could mommy have been captured by the Negamoon because of me? Have I been that bad of a daughter? Oh mommy, what ever it is, I'm sorry. I'm trying to be a good girl. I know you want me to comfort Darien, or daddy, and I'm trying. Please mommy, come back..."  
  
Renee automatically stopped crying when Darien came into the living room to answer the phone. She straightened herself up just like her mother taught her to, and continued to read a book. She looked up at Darien when he came in. He picked up the phone, answering tiredly, "Hello?"  
  
It was Lita, at her apartment with the other girls. "Hi, Darien? It's me, Lita."  
  
Darien was a bit overjoyed when he heard her voice, "Hey Lita. How's everything going for you and the rest of the girls?"  
  
Lita shamed her head down and responded, "Well, not too well. The girls and I are still pretty shaken up. Actually, that's what I wanted to talked to you about. Are you doing any better?"  
  
Darien sighed, "No, not really. I'm still having nightmares and I'm still tossing and turning, not being able to do anything correctly."  
  
Lita held her breath, hoping her next words won't have too much valiance in them. She let it out when she remarked, "I see. The girls and I are pretty worried about you." She paused for a split second and then resumed, "Darien, this might sound forward, but the other Scouts and I are planning to go to the nearby heights of Tokyo, to have a little camp, to get our minds off of this. And we were wondering, would you and Renee like to come? It might help you get your minds off of things a bit."  
  
Darien hesitated in his mind, but he requested, "Hold on a sec', Lita." He covered the receiver and glanced at Renee, "Hey Renee..."  
  
"Yes daddy?" she answered coming over to his side. She looked up with a little vague smile. To look at a face like that, Darien wanted to cry again. He snapped out of it and asked, "Would you like to join the girls for a little campfire? It'll be fun." He tried to smile.  
  
"Okay, but are you going too?" asked Renee.  
  
"If you're going, I'll come with you," he said.  
  
"Okay," agreed Renee. She quickly gave her future father a hug and backed up, trying to listen to the rest of the conversation. He went back to the receiver, "Yeah, okay. Renee wants to go, and I'll come too."  
  
"Okay," answered Lita. "It's tonight at about four o'clock afternoon. You can bring just about anything you want. But, you might want to wear light clothes and bring another change of clothes, 'cause we're staying overnight. Also bring a swimsuit and jacket 'cause it might turn cold."  
  
Darien smiled,"Okay. I'll see you then, alright?"  
  
"Alright," agreed Lita. "Bye."  
  
"Bye." He hung up and looked at his watch. It was about 11:45 a.m., so he decided to watch and play with Renee for a while. He and Renee basically just read together and played a few board games. They tried to not think about the SM situation right now, along with the girls.   
  
Little did they know that someone in a dark place was preparing for something else in mind...  
  
* * *  
  
Rube was watching Sailormoon as she was engulfed once more, in more dark energy. She was lying on the counter top again, unconscious.   
  
"Those Sailorbrats are such nuisances," he thought. He turned to a dark mirror, and looked into it. "I know Tuxedo Mask's identity. Maybe I can try to home in on the oth--" He was cut off by a flash of brown light against his face. He shrieked as he cover his eyes and tried to flash Sailormoon away. Then light died down, and there appeared a somewhat handsome man that has Rube's brown hair and outfit, but has a different face than his. It was his brother, Zircon, checking up on Rube.  
  
"Hey, brother, what's up?" he snarled. He looked down at Sailormoon. "So this must be Sailormoon? Boy, is she a figure. Maybe I can have a little fun with her..." He started to bend down and tried to kiss her, but Rube shoved him out of the way.  
  
"Hey, don't even think about it, Zircon," Rube warned. "She's mine. And besides, she's working for us now; that's it."  
  
"Oh really?" questioned Zircon. He snapped, "Well, then BRO! Since I can't have fun with her, can't I get those other pesky Scouts! I can do something around here, you know! Not just you, big shot!"  
  
Rube thought for a moment and then replied, "Hey Zircon, don't you like snooping around on Earth?"  
  
"You know I do, Rube!" cried Zircon. "Why can't I just find that Tuxedo Mask and get him instead?"  
  
"Oh, alright," shouted Rube, impatiently. "You can go get that Tuxedo Mask! Go find him at some strange phantomous places, though. He likes high places where he can get some cool views of the city."  
  
"Cool, brother," answered Zircon. He was about to walk away when he turned back around. "Hey, Rube, do you by any chance know who Tuxedo Mask's real identity is?"  
  
"Glad that you asked," responded Rube. He smirked, "Don't be too surprised... his name is Darien."  
  
"So? Your point being?" accused Zircon.  
  
Rube shook his head, "You just don't get it, do you, stupid! He's the future Crystal Tokyo's king! Neo-King Darien! Or in more royal words, Neo-King Endymion!"  
  
"Really? Wicked!" commented Zircon. "Then that means Sailormoon is..."  
  
"...Neo-Queen Serenity, yes I know!" cried Rube. "And Renee is their daughter, Small Lady. Go to Earth at about 6:30 this evening, alright?"  
  
"Wicked," repeated Zircon. "Well, don't worry. I'm getting that Tuxedo Mask for you; one way or another." With that, he stomped away into the mist of the darkness.   
  
* * *  
  
It was about 3:15 p.m., and Renee and Darien were sleeping on the couch for a little nap. Renee was the first to wake up. She stirred, and got up from lying on the floor, with her father sleeping on the sofa with a book . She looked at Darien's watch.  
  
"Huh? 3:15! It's time to pack to go to Lita's camp!" She bounded up and shook her father. "Daddy? Darien, come on, wake up. It's almost time to go to the camp."  
  
Darien stirred and looked at his daughter. "Huh? What's up, Renee?" He sat up, rubbing his tears and sweat off his neck.  
  
Renee examined Darien for a moment. "Daddy, are you okay? You look kind of scared."  
  
Darien didn't want to explain his dream about Sailormoon, so he just said, "I just had a bad dream about Sailormoon, to be short."  
  
Renee shook her head and then smiled, "It's time to get ready for that camp thing with Lita and the girls."  
  
"Huh? What? Oh yeah," he responded. He got up and went to the bathroom to wash up. He was thinking, I doubt that this camp thing can help me, but maybe it's a chance to see how the girls are really doing. After he came back out, he said, "Renee, come on. Grab some light clothes and a jacket, & maybe that's enough. You can bring anything else you'll need." He smiled, trying to hide his feelings.  
  
"Okay, Daddy," giggled Renee. She went to her room to get her stuff. Darien looked after her, smiling and blinking tears. "Daddy," he whispered, "is what she calls me, even though I'm not really her father yet. She still thinks of me as her father. Too bad, her mother isn't here to look after her too." He started to cry again. "Serena...Sailormoon...Serenity." He controlled himself and whispered one last time before getting ready. "My loving wife." He clenched his fists and went to his room to get ready, brushing his tears away. He never cried in years, because crying to him means a sign of weakness.  
  
Later, Renee came out in her regular outfit; her school uniform. Darien came out with his pink shirt and tan stovepipe pants, with the Crystal in his safety pocket.   
  
"I decided to just wear my uniform, since it already includes a jacket," she explained. "I also brought my Luna-sphere and swimsuit, OK?"  
  
Darien smiled and looked at his watch. "3:30. Let's go."   
  
Renee beamed, and Darien and she went to his car. They hopped in, and drove in serenity to Tokyo's Heights.  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, at the Heights and cliffs at 3:45, Mina and the girls were already set up. The campfire was started, the food ready, and the tiny little lake was ready to be swam in. All of the girls were dressed in hot, very nice clothes.   
  
Mina looked at her watch in her bag.  
  
"3:50," she replied. "I hope Darien and Renee's are going to show up soon."  
  
Raye replied, "Maybe he still feels bad about what happened."  
  
"Yeah, but he probably needs this little break to get his mind off of this," remarked Lita. "I'm wondering, do any of you know how's Renee doing?"  
  
Raye answered, "I know. She came over to my temple a few times after her voluntary school days, and we talked. Looks like he misses Serena very much as well, even though she found that she's her mother."  
  
"Aren't we all?" replied Amy.  
  
Just then, Darien and Renee arrived, They silently walked out of the car to the girls. Renee was the first one to call out, overjoyed, "Raye!"  
  
Raye and the others turned.   
  
"Hey, Renee! You and Darien made it!" cried Raye. Renee ran straight into her arms.  
  
"Hey, Darien!" greeted Mina. She flashed a cool smile.  
  
Darien thought, funny, Mina's smiles are so much like Serena's. She also has the same looks and hair...oh stop it! This is suppose to be fun remember! He snapped himself into a smile. Lita was glancing at Renee's eyes for the moment.  
  
"Renee, are you okay?" she asked. "You used to smile a lot more."  
  
Renee perked up a little grin and answered, "I'm still sad over what happened... hey! This is suppose to be a little campfire event, right? Let's try to have a bit of fun!" She smiled the best she can, her pink hair streaming around.   
  
Amy looked at Darien and replied, "Darien, did you bring anything to swim in? We're all going swimming in that lake over there later on." She closed her analytic geometry book and continued looking at him.   
  
Darien nodded in relief, "Yeah, I brought something to splash or mess around in, just in case." He looked at everyone else, "So when's the big swimming party?"  
  
Mina stood up, "We can start in about 10-15 minutes. Anything you guys want to talk about?"  
  
Everyone looked at each other in silence for five minutes. They knew what everyone was still concerned about; Sailormoon, and the rest of the battle to face, possibly risking their lives to the end. Darien was reaching into his pocket to make sure that the Imperium Silver Crystal was still there. He told himself to try to have fun; he knew that Serena wouldn't want him to be sad for her forever.   
  
Renee wanted to talk about her mom (Neo-Queen Serenity), but she knew that since she's Serena, she wouldn't want to upset anyone, especially her future father, Darien. She still wanted to talk about her, so she casually said, "How are you girls coping with... (she cleared her throat) this situation." She smiled, trying to look happy.  
  
Everyone looked at Darien as if they were looking for permission to answer. He just smiled as best as he could; tears starting to build up in his eyes. Mina answered first, "I guess we're all coping with this pretty hard. I'm trying to think about something else at times to cheer me up. I guess -- everything isn't just the same as they were before."  
  
"I sometimes get so angry that I break a whole set of boards in my karate class at one whole time. I sometimes also trash my room," Lita replied, surprisingly soft.  
  
Raye just painfully said, "I still am staying up late each night trying to conduct some fire-readings." She started to brim tears in her eyes. "I shouldn't have been so awful to her all the time! It feels like my fault!" Her broke down and started to sniffle out tears. Her friends went to her side to comfort her.  
  
"It's not, Raye," comforted Amy. She looked at the grass as Darien with Renee sat next to her. "It's -- mine. I should've worked harder at analyzing on my visor and computer."   
  
Darien patted Amy's knee and soothed, "It's not. A lot of times, I think that it's my fault, but that's what the Negamoon wants us to think. It's not anyone's fault. If there was a fault to direct at, I'm the one who should be accused. I'm her protector, and yet, I can't believe I let her down."  
  
Renee spoke up, "Daddy -- Darien, it's not your fault." She looked at everyone's hurt faces. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought this up."  
  
Everyone smiled encouragingly at her. "It's okay, Renee. We understand. We know that you love Serena, since she's your mom. We forgive you," acknowledged Raye. She hugged Renee.  
  
Renee in a few seconds restrained herself from the hug and answered, "Serena wouldn't want all of you to be like this. She just wants to be remembered, and she wants you all to be happy." She smiled adorably.   
  
Mina stood up, brushing a tear off her face and smiled, "Okay! Umm... let's change the subject. Is anyone up for some swimming?"  
  
Darien and Renee answered, "Okay."  
  
"I guess I can take a little splash time in the water," answered Darien.   
  
Amy started to blush as she spoke, "Okay, Darien. The girls and I will change over in that blue tent there. Darien, you can change in that same tent over there with us, except that you have to pull the slide down. No peeking!" Amy joked.  
  
Darien and everyone else laughed as they went off. He went into the tent, surprised at what he saw. There were way cool sleeping bags in front of him, each big enough for two people. There's also some other preppy stuff that people would like in there too. He just changed into his black swimming trunks, and sleeveless undershirt. He was the first to come out.  
  
The girls were on the other side of the tent changing, too. Raye was in a hot, red bikini. Amy was in a strappy ocean blue one-piece, breast-line all the way lower than in anything she wears; Lita was in a full, beautiful green one-piece suit, again, the breast-line down at the bottom of the breasts, and Raye just wore a plain, hot Red bikini. Renee wore a pink little swimsuit with a bunny on the front. Mina, one the other hand, wore the hottest, fullest yellow (with the most barely touch of orange and gold) bikini, with a see-through VERY light orange sheath tied around her butt, exposing her left leg completely and right leg up to her butt. You can still see right through it. You can say that all the other's envied her outfit. They all walked out, finding Darien next to the little lake. He smiled at everyone (not particularly staring at their swimsuits, of course!).   
  
"Everyone ready?" asked Renee.  
  
Everyone nodded as they started to jump into the cool water. It was nice on a really warm day like this one. They all could see through the sky blue water to the ground, and they could dive right in. They had swimming races, games, and plain fun. Darien was smiling a lot, and he felt a bit better. He had to watch over Renee, to make sure that just in case she forgot her swimming lessons, he was there to help, and to protect her. At about 5:20, everyone stopped swimming and decided to clean up. They all dried themselves up and wore some clean clothes. It was still pretty warm, but it was indeed cooler. They set up some food to munch on, even though it wasn't dinner time. They played a bit of volleyball, but their happy expressions were easily seen through as a facade of pain. After they played for 15 minutes, they sat around the campfire, talking about school, work and lives.   
  
Then Darien couldn't really bare it anymore. He excused himself, "Hey girls, you want me to get some more wood for the fire? I can go out into the woods right now and get some more."   
  
Lita nodded, "Sure. Do you want any of us to join you? It's getting dark."  
  
Darien shook his head with a small smile, "No, that's alright. I'll be back soon." He walked off into the darkness, seeing that the girls looked worriedly after him. When he saw that they turned around to themselves, he quickly ran to the height of Tokyo as Tuxedo Mask. When he got there, he just stood there and stared at the moon, holding a crimson rose in his hand.   
  
As he was staring at the moon, he could picture and remember the times of SM, and plain old meatball-head Serena:  
  
The crumpled paper landed on his head in a bounce. He caught it and yelled at the blonde beauty in front of him, "Hey, watch it, Meatball Head!"  
  
The blonde turned around slowly, her hair waving. "Huh? Oh, sorry!"  
  
Darien unfolded it and retorted, "A 30? Admirable..."  
  
"Daaaaoo!" screeched the girl.  
  
Darien lowered the paper from his face, exposing his sunglasses. "Are you stupid, or just incredibly lazy?"  
  
The blonde (Serena) snitched defensively, "Hmm! How dare you! Give me that!" She snatched the paper and whirled around, mumbling something, and leaving.   
  
Darien was stunned. "Something about that girl..." He shook himself and stared, "Who's that blonde? She seems so familiar... and she's quite a beauty..."  
  
And next...  
  
"Cheer up, Serena," Darien heard Andrew comfort to someone, "what does your brother know anyway? Forget him. If you want to go into modeling, you should just go for it."  
  
Serena? Darien thought, she wants to go into modeling? She could definitely make it, with those eyes and body...oh, what am I saying? By golly, she's only 14, and I'm 19!  
  
"Do you really think so, Andrew? Do think I got what it takes?" she asked.  
  
Darien, hiding his emotions, teased, "Yeah, absolutely. I could just see you tumbling off the stage..." He pulled off his sunglasses and stared at her, playfully, and secretly lovingly. "...praying like a donkey! It's Serena the Hyena!"  
  
Serena glared at him with her sapphire eyes. The way she glared at him hurt him a bit. "Just stay out of this, okay Darien? Who asked you!"  
  
Still hiding, he responded, "I'm just trying to help you Serena." He stood up and continued, "Modeling's hard work. You've got to get up early, you've got to be on time, and you've really got to watch you eat. You can't eat 'n need junk!"  
  
Serena stood up and crossed her arms and replied, "Creep! How would you know!"  
  
He answered (almost blushing), "Well actually, I did some modeling after high school to help pay my tuition."  
  
"You did modeling! No way!" she cried.  
  
He secretly winced. "Sure did. It's not all glamour; believe me!"  
  
"Yeah, well don't you worry about me, buddy!" she emphasized.  
  
He snickered, "I'm not. I know you're gonna fail. You're never on time; you're always cramming junk food into your mouth; and you can't walk one block without falling down... and taking at least three other people with you!"  
  
Her eyes were starting to brim with crystal tears as she bravely cried, "Thank you so very much, Darien! But I'm going to do just fine! You watch!" She stomped out of the arcade. Now, he really regretted what he said. When she was outside, Andrew curiously asked him, "You know Darien, sometimes you're really mean. How come you're always so hard on that girl?"  
  
Before he almost spilled out his true feelings, he quickly said, coolly, "I really don't mean to be. It's just something that comes over me when I'm around her. I'm feeling... just like I can't explain it."  
  
Tuxedo Mask started to cry as he slipped his mask and hat away. It really did hurt to think about all these flashbacks. He even saw Serena's face on the face of the moon he was looking at. She was smiling her beautiful smiles at him.   
  
"Serena, where are you? Why couldn't you fight it?" he whispered. "Why did you leave?"  
  
***  
  
Back at the campfire, Mina glanced at her watch. Her friends grew silent as she said, "Hmm. It's 6:20. Darien left at about 5:55, and he should be back by now." She looked at her friends, whose expressions started to grow worried.   
  
"Maybe something happened to him," replied Lita, quietly.   
  
Amy secretly crossed her fingers as she remarked, "I hope he's not lost, or in trouble."  
  
Renee spoke, "I hope daddy...I mean, 'Darien's' okay. Should we wait a bit longer?"  
  
Raye asked, "Yeah, should we? I mean, maybe he just got lost." She was starting to get really worried.  
  
Mina brushed at her see-through shear over her bikini outfit. She straightened her knee-highs to her knees correctly as she stood up. "I'll go look for him, OK? You guys stay here."  
  
"But Mina, are you sure?" asked Amy.  
  
"Don't worry, I'll be back with Darien in no time," she responded. She grabbed a flashlight from her backpack, along with her wand and communicator and strapped it on. "If he comes back, call me on the communicator OK? I'll let you know if anything happens from mine. See you all later!" She waved and left in her Sailor V jog.  
  
Her friends looked after her as she left.  
  
"I hope the Negaverse isn't mixed up in all of this," said Raye to herself.  
  
***  
  
Mina was quickly jogging through the woods with her flashlight. It wasn't all completely dark, but it was dark enough to not be able to see many things specifically without the moon and/or flashlight. It was a deep blue color for the sky, with stars shimmering in it. Silently, she was cursing herself,  
  
"Man, why did I chose to wear high-heels and this outfit? I can hardly run as fast as usual in them. I know it's almost hot, but...ooh, alright! Back to business. I've got to find Darien. I just hope that the Negaverse hasn't anything to do with this." After a few more minutes of searching and silent jogging, she found him at the height of Tokyo. She was confused, and then a bit shocked. "What is he doing? I hope he's not going to commi-- oh, stop it will you Venus? Why are you so wacko today?"  
  
Because of Sailormoon, her conscience told her. She sighed silently, looking really sad and concerned. She purposely walked closer and louder for Darien to know that someone's there.  
  
"Darien?" called Mina. "Is that you?"  
  
Tuxedo Mask turned around and answered, teary-eyed, "Huh? Oh, hi Mina. What brings you here?"  
  
Mina saw the rose in his hand.  
  
"I was about to ask you that same thing," testified Mina. "You didn't go to get wood and fresh air, didn't you?"  
  
Tux looked down at the ground and didn't answer right away, "No-- not really."  
  
Mina walked over, her blonde hair and shear waving. "Darien, I know why you came here. I know how you feel, because it's still plaguing all of us. Please, the best way to get better is to try to think and do happy things. You're not fulfilling your true will Darien. Serena would want you to be happy, wouldn't she?"  
  
Tuxedo Mask looked up and nodded. Mina still walked closer and placed a warm hand on his shoulder. "Darien, please, just come back with us to get your mind off this. If-- you want, the girls and I can start another analysis about finding her. What do you think?" She tried to smile.  
  
Darien smiled back. "I don't know, Mina. Thanks for caring about me; you and the others. But, I need to face this somehow."  
  
"By crying and feeling depressed all the time?" questioned Mina.  
  
"Maybe," he answered.  
  
***  
  
Zircon was looking through a spy mirror at Mina and Tuxedo Mask.  
  
"Well, there's Tuxedo Mask," he cackled. "I can go get him soon." He zoomed in on the mirror. "Who's that--beautiful blonde with Tuxedo Mask? She looks so familiar...familiar hair waving, familiar eyes and posture of her alluring body. She looks like that blonde soldier, Sailorvenus, in the future, but I can't be sure. It's someone from Crystal Tokyo in the future, but who is it..."  
  
***  
  
Mina continued to try to comfort Darien.   
  
"Why don't you come back with us, OK? You can let it all out, if you want. I know the girls wouldn't mind, and you really need to let it all out," she preached.  
  
Tuxedo Mask stopped at the momentarily stares at the moon, and looked at her. Mina looks so much like Serena--same hair color, eyes, personality, he thought again. He finally nodded and started to turn back with her. "Just let me have a minute more to stare at the moon, OK?" Mina nodded.   
  
Suddenly, a streak of lightning flashed in front of them, at the edge of the cliff. Brown smoke swirled, and that made Mina and Tuxedo Mask leap backwards. Zircon was floating up there. He lowered himself down a bit and smirked, "Hello there, Tux Boy."  
  
Before Tuxedo Mask could ask, Mina already did, "Who are you? And what do you want?"  
  
Zircon turned his glare to Mina. He started to get some immature images of her in his mind, just about in love. Mina's eyes looked impatient.   
  
"Good evening, miss," he greeted with a smile. "My name is Zircon, Rube's brother. What about you?" He was still staring at her. Then, he snapped out of it and turned back to Tux. He uncrossed it arms, looking like he was about to fire something. Mina took the notice, and jumped in front of Tuxedo Mask, shielding him.  
  
Zircon just smirked, "Step aside, ya' blonde chick. All I want is the guy behind you."  
  
Mina shook her head, angrily, "No way! If you want him, you'll have to go through me, and over my dead body you will!" She took her Sailor V fighting stance.   
  
Zircon just shook his head, retorting, "Yeah right. Hey chick, nice outfit under your shear. How about you and I have some fun?"  
  
Mina was furious. "Excuse me? Shut up, you sicko!" She retorted back, "Sorry, but I'll never sell my bod'! I won't make that same mistake like did younger! Not to anyone! Especially you, you freak!"  
  
Darien was shocked. He had never heard Mina talk this way. He has known her for quite some time now, and he had never heard Mina use those kind of words, or even commit that stuff. Mina to him was a ditzy, funny, and pretty friend. He just realized that Mina was REALLY in a woman's revealing outfit, only with a shear over it.   
  
Zircon cracked out a laugh, and struck a spell on Mina so she couldn't move in her will; only in his. He moved her towards him. Tuxedo Mask didn't make a mistake like this one again. He slashed a rose and his cane at Zircon, releasing Mina's spell. She fell plop to the ground and got up immediately.   
  
Zircon, on the other hand, was really piqued. "How dare you, Cape Boy! This force should finish you off, just what Rube wants!" He struck a striking force of black energy at him. Tuxedo Mask was too shocked to do or move anything. Mina saw, and was scared to death. She darted in front of the deadly blast, taking the hit completely. While blocking it, she didn't give up, nor fall backwards. After the blast was over, she fell back, Tuxedo Mask catching her in fright.   
  
"Mina! Are you alright! Come on, Mina, talk to me!" he cried. He glared at Zircon with hate, thinking, Mina almost got killed in protecting me!  
  
Zircon chuckled, "So, the girl's name is Mina, huh? Thanks, Tux Boy." He started to go over to Mina, and that's when she started to wake up. She stirred, "Huh?" She saw Darien looking at her, "Are you OK, Mina? Why did you do that?"  
  
Mina stood up straight and answered quickly, "I care about you, Darien. And besides, I'm a Scout, and it's my job to protect the royal family at anytime."  
  
"Yeah, but you shouldn't have almost killed yourself for it!" cried Darien.  
  
Mina flashed him a smile, "I have to, and I like it." She turned to Zircon and glared at him, "Back off, Negacreep!" Once again, she took fighting stance.  
  
Zircon backed off and snarled, "How can you survive that blast? No human has ever survived that, except the warriors of..." He didn't finish his sentence.  
  
Mina thought, warriors of what? Justice? As in the Sailorscouts? Is that how I survived?  
  
Zircon tried to slap Mina aside onto the ground, but Mina blocked him and slashed him back off the cliff with her memory of her Sailor V kicks (Sailor V must be popular in this). Tux was amazed. He knew that she and the rest of the Scouts are fairly good fighters, especially Lita and Raye, but he never saw Mina or anyone else use that kind of impressive move (yes, he still doesn't really know that Mina was the famous and beautiful Sailor V).  
  
Zircon wasn't too happy about that slash. He was bleeding on the corner of his head and mouth. "Ooh, that'll cost something, you blonde chick! It's gonna cost your friend!" He blew Mina aside, almost to another edge of the cliff. She slid painfully on her side. Darien tried to go to her aid, but was halted. He reached inside for his staff, but Zircon struck it away onto the ground and struck him still.  
  
"I can't move!" shouted Darien. He tried his best, but nothing worked. Mina crawled back up, while Zircon threw some sharp, black forces at Darien. She snatched his staff, and once again, remembering her Sailor V fighting, got in front and slashed it all off, flipping the staff around. The forces were rejected, and the still spell on Tux was off.   
  
"So Mina, you know that kind of fencing, huh?" asked Zircon. He drew out his sword, "How about a bit of combat? Let's see if you can keep up with the greatest fencer of the Negamoon!" He tossed Mina another sword, catching it in her hands. Darien drew out his staff that partially turned into a sword and cried, "Forget it, Zircon! I'm fighting! The girl isn't!" He prepared himself. Zircon didn't hesitate for one moment; he started to fence with him. It was really a tie score, according to Mina, who just watched and prepared just in case there's an emergency.   
  
Looks like Tux was out of his touch of fencing today. His staff/sword was struck out of his hand. He was surprised, and his hand hurt. Just as Zircon was about to strike, Mina in a split second leaped in and struck his sword, starting to fence with him.  
  
"You know something Negacreep," she cried, "I'm having fun whipping you butt! Especially in fencing! I haven't fenced for such a long time! You're really gonna pay for what you did to my friend here, and my others!"  
  
Mina took several strikes and slashed some parts of Zircon's clothes. He was definitely surprised. One side of his sleeveless shirt was slashed apart and off, and so was some parts of his pants. His belt was slashed partly off, and he was cut on the arm. After the recent cut on the arm, Mina paused and stood back in fighting stance, "Haven't given up yet? And you were saying..." She purposely didn't finish her sentence.  
  
Zircon wasn't too thrilled. He glared at Mina and cried, "You b----! Nice that you know how to fight for a girl!"  
  
"That's right! I know how to fight!" retorted Mina, unsensibly. "Why are you here? What do you want from us and this place?"  
  
Darien was listening carefully. He never actually really understood Mina too much, partially because he never actually heard about her past much, or how she acted.   
  
"Well Mina," Zircon started to answer, "I'd really like to tell you, but my orders were to destroy this planet and the beings on here. Maybe I should start with your friend and you first..." He started to charge towards Mina and Darien. Darien grabbed out a rose, preparing to throw it. Mina held the sword and fighting skills ready, but nothing happened. Instead, Zircon just disappeared. Mina wasn't convinced and so wasn't Darien; that Zircon disappeared for good (he certainly remembered how Rube had tricked him before when he got SM).   
  
Tuxedo Mask growled, "Alright Zircon, if you're planning some type of disappearing act, too late! Your brother has already tried that trick, and he's gonna pay for the consequences he's caused us!"  
  
Still nothing. Mina used her sense of detection, and replied, "He's gone. I don't have anymore vibes from him." She lowered the sword. Her hair was messed up, and she was a bit bruised. She adjusted her hair and clothes and remarked, "Sorry, I shouldn't have worn this outfit out. Otherwise, I wouldn't have caused that much trouble." She looked down.  
  
Darien came over and smiled, "That's not how the problem was started. You helped a great deal in fighting, and I was impressed! How did you learn how to fight with swords and kicks like that? And, not to mean to be rude, but what did you mean when you said that you wouldn't make that same mistake again?"  
  
Mina looked up and smiled quickly but then frowned, "Darien, I don't think I've been entirely honest with you especially. I've told the girls before, but not you, and I think I can trust you enough to tell you." She went over a several meters before the end of the cliff and sat down, Darien right along. He adjusted his cape as he sat..  
  
Mina started to explain, "I know that you've wondered where I was from and what my past was like. I know that you know all the rest of the Scouts' pasts and stuff. Well, it started in England, when my family moved there for about half year for my dad's work. That's where I met Artemis. He convinced me that I was a Sailorscout. It turned out that he gave me the powers of Sailor V..." She paused.  
  
Darien was shocked, "Wait a minute, YOU'RE the actual real famous Sailor V?"  
  
Mina nodded and continued, "So I was Sailor V for quite a while. In case you're wondering, yes, I was also the star of the Sailor V movie, and all the merchandise, with the exact costume. There was quite a bit of crime to fight there, and I got involved with the police to fight. The Negaverse was there, too. There were monsters there I fought, and I had two really close friends there. A policewoman Katarina, and guy about your age named Alan. This sounds crazy, but I was in love him. So one night, Katarina, Alan, and I went to a warehouse to home in on some Negamonsters, and crept inside. It was really a trap; the warehouse exploded, and Katarina and Alan escaped. I got out too, but in a different way. That's when I saw them together, and they thought I was killed in the explosion. I saw that they really loved each other, and they excluded me. I was heartbroken, and I fled back to live here." She turned to look at Darien to see how he was doing. He had a terrified look in his blue eyes, & Mina continued, with tears forming in her eyes,  
  
"My parents, two days before we left, dragged me to a night club party, letting me choose to wear a attracting dress to guys, where there was drinking and drugs. Lots of guys in all age groups were staring and whistling at me, wanting me to dance with them. I was too sad to dance, but I went there anyways. I remembered my mom and dad left early and told me to stay there to try to cheer up, and that was a big mistake, as well as a selfish thing to do. How could they just leave me there! I ordered a drink, which I accidentally grabbed the wrong one; one full big glass of wine. I drank it, thinking that it was a really strange soda. Before I knew it, I was having another glass, totally drunk. I stumbled onto the dance floor, dancing very inappropriately. I don't remember too well, just bits and pieces of this, but now you can say I was actually...actually..."  
  
Darien tried to answer quietly, "Partying a little too hard?" He hoped it was this stupid answer.  
  
Mina shook her head as tears dropped, "I don't mean to be... well, you know, but I was like a 21 yr. old, and I was... I guess you can say... the 's' word for revealing."  
  
Darien gasped so loudly that you could probably hear it across town.  
  
"I didn't do that too much, until a guy dragged me off the stage. I don't remember, but I think he adjusted my clothes. I shoved him aside and started to walk outside. I was still really drunk when a guy grabbed my arm and asked me to come with him. We walked outside and I think into a hidden grove of trees in park. There, I was having a bit TOO much fun, and that's when I accidentally had...had..." She looked at her friend next to her, who was close to tears. He created a word silently on his lips, and Mina nodded,  
  
"Ummhmm. I just went along with it, until I passed out. (Crying) I lost my virginity! And only at age 14!!! I woke up the next morning with a headache. I was a mess, and I secretly sneaked home without my parents home, and I cleaned myself up. I remembered what happened the night before, and I started to cry non-stop. Like two hours later, I stopped and showered and rested and everything, trying to hide that from my parents. I think I did a good job of it, because they never noticed. From then on, I tried to forget about that night like nothing happened, and I never brought it up. That's when I came back here."  
  
Darien was shocked the whole time, as usual. "Oh--oh, Mina, I'm so sorry."  
  
Mina wiped away her tears and stood up, smiling her best, "Well-- those bad times are past us, right? I guess we have to focus back on--you know."  
  
Darien stood up and asked, "Yeah, unfortunately. Are you sure you're OK?"  
  
Mina nodded, "I'm OK now. I know I have the greatest friends in the world, and that pretty much hides my dark past."  
  
He was surprised, and smiled. He had never actually seen a girl (besides Lita) that could hide a past like that, that well. All that plagues him now is SM. With that thought in mind, he started to feel tears building up in his eyes, but he hid them.  
  
Suddenly, Zircon's voice was heard, "Very touching story, Mina."  
  
Darien and Mina gasped and stared at a black cloud that turned into Zircon.   
  
"Thought I was gone, didn't you?" he asked. He smirked. "So which one of you are ready to face me off? Oh, whoops; guess I could answer my own question. So Tux boy, ready?"  
  
Darien swooped out his staff again and yelled, "Ready as ever, Negacreep! You're really gonna pay for what you did to Sailormoon! If I win, you have to give her back, ya' hear!"  
  
Zircon just shook his head and raised his hand. Mina and Darien were puzzled. Zircon just blew his hands hurls of black energy at Darien and Mina, they were blown against a tree, yelling. Mina was sliding, dirtying her shear and hair.   
  
After she finished sliding, she just lay there, panting with her eyes closed. She felt something slithering down her right arm. She couldn't move it at first, and she was terrified as tears started to form. She couldn't even move her head. It wasn't until she felt someone lift her up, did she get back her sense of touch. Who is this? she thought. Darien--is that you? Or is that nasty Zircon? Why can't I move? I've got to--Serena's counting on me...  
  
She could finally open her eyes, but it was a blurred picture of who was over her. The picture finally came into view. Mina then felt another gust of wind blown. She felt something covering her to hide her from the blast. A blanket? But, I'm not dead! she cried inside. She wretched open her eyes more, and saw that Darien was looking down at her, shoving his cape aside. She saw him create some lip movements, not knowing what was it that he was trying to tell her. She could finally hear. She felt that she wasn't on the ground completely anymore. Her back was against something--something warm.   
  
"Mina? Are you alright? Say something!" she heard Darien say. She sat up from his arms, rubbing her head. "I hope so," she answered. She felt a sharp pain on her arm as she looked at it. She gasped, "Owww! My arm!"  
  
Darien yanked out a big roll bandage and requested, "Here, give me your arm." Mina obediently obeyed, and in no time her arm was bandaged comfortably.   
  
"Thanks," she thanked. Darien just nodded and smiled. She and he stood up, angered.  
  
"You're really gonna pay, you hear Zircon!" cried Mina. She took fighting stance. He just blew another force of energy at them. Mina resisted a lot more this, time, but was eventually blown again. Both of them were sliding, this time on their fronts. Darien placed his arm protectively on Mina when they stopped.  
  
"That does it," grumbled Mina. She looked up. "This is the last straw."  
  
Darien was a bit scared when she said that. "What do you mean?"  
  
Mina stood up while he just looked up. "Time for Sailor Venus to step in."  
  
Darien frantically shook his head, "No! He'll know what your true identity is! He'll come looking for you, and you'll be in greater danger!"  
  
Mina didn't pay attention as she cried, "I have to! And you can't stop me." She darted forward and cried to Zircon, "You're really gonna pay!"  
  
"By how?" he questioned.  
  
Mina raised her hand as Darien and Zircon watched.  
  
"No Mina!" cried Darien for the last time.  
  
Too late. "Venus, star, power!" In her right-hand appeared her beautiful gold and orange Venus wand, flipping to be caught in her hand. Then, swirls of orange stars showered her exposed body as she swirled and swirled around. Zircon and Darien watched in shock. Finally there was big flash of blinding light, and after 3 seconds, there stood Sailor Venus, shining like a star.  
  
Zircon was the first to react. "What! YOU'RE Sailor Venus!"  
  
Venus took some of her moves and announced, "That's right! It's time that for you to be thrown out! I fight for love and justice, too. So you better look out...for Sailor Venus! I shall punish on behave of Venus!"  
  
Zircon just chuckled, "So you're the woman I saw in the Crystal Tokyo of the future. The guardian of love for Crystal Tokyo, and the royal family! Well, I'm gonna have fun toying and maybe destroying you!"  
  
Mina blocked Darien's way as he got up and cried, "Give it your best shot!"  
  
Zircon just flicked a green laser-like beam of light at her. Venus commanded very quickly, "Venus crescent-beam smash!"  
  
The beam and laser just rebounded from each other. Venus cried out in shock. Zircon charged forward, slamming his sword almost on her foot. She leaped out of the way, crying, "Ahhhowwahh!" She quickly aimed, "Venus, love-chain encircle!" The chain strapped his sword and yanked it out of his hands and off the the cliff. He was angry. Darien jumped to Venus's side and held out his staff. Zircon just blew dark energies at them, jumping out the ways.   
  
Finally, one of them was directed at both of them at the same time. Darien leaped backwards, but Venus was almost hit. She bounced backwards towards the cliff, screaming. He leaped backed at Venus, trying to catch her. Instead she started to fall off the cliff as she cried (with her arm trying to reach Darien's hand), "Darien!!!!"  
  
Luckily, he caught her hand (yes, he did have his Scouts dream flash black, but he fought it). Venus was frantically trying to hold on, and she was grunting as she tried.   
  
"Venus, are you alright?" Darien asked, knowing the answer.  
  
Venus was starting to lose grip of Darien's hand. "Darien, please-- help me!"  
  
He was trying to pull her up, but he was out of strength. "Come on, Venus! Pull! Try to grab onto the cliff! Don't let go!"  
  
Venus obeyed and reached. After several tries, she was giving up. "I can't reach it!"  
  
"Try harder!" Darien cried. He was scared, but he tried harder himself. He pulled harder and harder, until he lifted Venus up by four inches. By then, Venus could reach the edge of the cliff and grasped onto it. She pulled herself up all the way to her waist. With the help of Darien pulling, she was almost on land again. He looped his arms under Venus's and pulled one last time. They're finally on land again.   
  
Zircon wasn't too please with the fact that Venus especially escaped.   
  
"So Venus, you've managed to escape," he retorted. He created a force of beams at the palm of his hand, preparing to fire. "Don't think that you'll be that lucky this time!" He fired the beams at Tuxedo Mask and Venus. They both jumped out of the way.   
  
Venus saw her chance and quickly commanded, "Venus crescent-beam smash!" The cresecnt-beam through all of the beams combined and incised Zircon's arm. He staggered backward, groaning. He aimed more beams at Venus and Darien. Darien successfully used his staff and destroyed his beams. Venus was targeted the most, on the other hand. She aimed more powerfully, "Venus meteor SHOWER!" The beams were immediately destroyed, and the meteor injured Zircon once more.   
  
Sailorvenus was rendered next to Tuxedo Mask. They were both exhausted from the events so far. Zircon sprouted some more black energies and beams at them. The heroes froze, not knowing what to do. They desperately wanted to fight, but their bodies and reflexes won't respond together quick enough to fight. All things seemed hopeless until some familiar voices were heard;  
  
"Jupiter, thunder-clap, ZAP!"  
  
Everyone looked around and saw Sailorjupiter standing several yards away from Tuxedo Mask. "Sailorjupiter!" cried Venus. Then, there were two more voices heard;  
  
"Shine aqua illusion!"  
  
Mercury appeared next to Venus.  
  
"Mars, celestial, fire, SURROUND!"  
  
Mars appeared in front of everyone else. The three Scouts that just arrived cried together, "The Sailorscouts are here!"  
  
Zircon looked astonished. "So these are the Sailorscouts. Nice to meet you all. Maybe I should make an introduction like I did to your pretty friend Venus here. My name is Zircon, brother of Rube and Rubius of the Negamoon."  
  
He lowered himself to the ground, and smirked, "Rube has told me all about you Scouts. It seems that you've caused a lot of trouble by interfering with his plans for Crystal Tokyo." He looked into each of the Scouts' eyes quickly and cried, "I think I might be able to destroy you by the lack of self-confidence, Scouts!"  
  
Jupiter interrogated, "What do you mean, you Negacreep! Get to the point!"  
  
Zircon just laughed, "You'll soon see. Since if seems that you're the most gutsy girl of this group, I'll try you first." He raised his hands. Jupiter prepared to fire her powers, and everyone was especially on their guards for each other; particularly Jupiter.   
  
The heroes all waited. It seemed that nothing happened, but it did, strangely. A plane motor was heard above them. Everyone too a quick glance at the plane, then back at Rube. Jupiter was starting to look pale and frightened. She stared closely at the plane and remembered when was the last time she heard of or saw one; her parents trip to the Bahamas. Their plane crashed, and both of them orphaned Lita from then on. She started to pant of fear.   
  
Mars seemed to notice and asked, "Jupiter, are you OK?" Jupiter looked at Mars palely. Suddenly, a bright flash of white light flashed. Jupiter interrogated, "Hey, what happened?" She was in a weird surrounding-dimension. She heard Rube laughing, "It was your fault that you parents got killed. You should've been there to save them! You're a murderer!" The final word seemed to echo forever.  
  
Jupiter started to brim tears as she repeated, "That's right-- it was my fault that my parents died. I should've become Sailorjupiter to save them!" She collapsed on her knees, crying.  
  
Tuxedo Mask was worried with the rest of the Scouts. They cried, "No Jupiter! It wasn't your fault! The plane wasn't in anyway controlled by you, and you weren't there anyways!"  
  
Jupiter didn't listen. "It was all my fault!"  
  
Tuxedo Mask came over and tried to comfort Jupiter, but instead Jupiter backed up. Tuxedo Mask tried saying, "Come on Jupiter, it's me, Tuxedo Mask. You've got to snap out of this! Remember, Mercury had this same thing happen to her, when everyone, including us, thought that she was cheating. Come on, snap out of it!"  
  
Jupiter didn't hear Tux; instead she heard Tux's unreal voice, "Give in; you know that you killed both of your parents! And what about when your friends were in danger; you were just about always too late to save them! You're not worthy of being a Sailorscout anymore! Get out of here!"  
  
Sailorjupiter was shocked. Darien was once a loyal (sometimes annoying) and cute friend; and is one of her best friend's boyfriend, fiance, husband and lover. She couldn't believe that he was actually speaking like this to her (or so she thought).   
  
Jupiter cried out, "How can you say those things to me, Darien! I didn't kill my parents; honestly, I didn't! How can you say that I'm not a worthy Scouts anymore!" She was crying and fuming as she stood up.  
  
Darien looked at the Scouts, giving them the look, "What's she saying? I didn't say any of that!"  
  
Jupiter looked angry, as well as hurting severely inside. She heard Zircon's voice saying, "Is this what you call friendship! This is the truth, Jupiter! Destroy them, and you'll be free from all pain!" Jupiter advanced at Tuxedo Mask. He thought, what's she doing? This was almost exactly what happened when Mercury was like this!   
  
"Jupiter, " called out Darien. "Lita; come on, search for the truth!"   
  
Jupiter stopped advancing and looked all around. It seemed that her friends were ditching her. She started to aim at herself with her right hand and cried,"Jupiter..."  
  
Venus wasn't hesitating about her own safety. She bounded forward and tried to stop Jupiter. But at about a split second she could get there, Jupiter just about killed herself, "...thunder-clap, ZAP!" She let out a shrill cry, and fell to the ground, as if lifeless.  
  
Mercury and the rest of them rushed to Jupiter's side, lifting her up. She checked for vital signs. She sadly shook her head. Darien just shook his and cried, "NO!" He shook her, "Lita! Lita! Snap out of it! Please, come back!"  
  
Venus was crying, "It's all my fault! If I'd just reacted sooner!"  
  
"It sure was your fault, Venus!" cried Zircon. Everyone looked at him, angered by every bit of him. He challenged, "What about you? In what you did back in England, you'd be rich from getting all that physical prostitution attention!"   
  
Venus glared at him with fire in her crystal blue eyes. "That was not funny, you creep! And plus, I accidentally -- may I remind you -- did that once only!"  
  
Zircon cackled, "Oh yeah?" He tried to use his white illusion beams again, to cause some more false hallucinations, but Venus was quicker. She cried with all her strength, "Venus crescent-beam SMAAAAAAAAAASH!" Her beams shot directly at Zircon, and then she cried, "Venus star POWERRR!" All of her powers shot at Zircon, knocking the crap out of him. Her forehead showed her Venus sign, shooting beams out also.   
  
Renee, somehow, from the close edge of the forest to the Heights of Tokyo, was watching. She cried, "NOOO! Sailorvenus!" Then she pictured her mom's expression on her face. "MOMMY!"  
  
Everyone turned around and saw Renee madly running. Renee inside was thinking what her mommy's expression would look like if Venus and Jupiter were gone. She would cry and be a wreck for days. When she got to the Scouts, Tux, and Zircon, her moon beam shot out, 10x more powerful than usual. She screamed, "NOOO! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" She moon beam then encased Zircon and destroyed him for good. After a few more seconds, her moon beam revived Jupiter from her fatal death state. Jupiter woke up, dazed and still crying. "Wh--what happened?" Then she saw everyone and the heights.   
  
"Jupiter, you're alright!" cried everyone at cluttered but different times. Darien surprisingly hugged Jupiter for the first time! Jupiter blushed and freed herself, "Thanks, Darien." She ran over and hugged Renee, who was smiling of relief. "Oh, thank you Renee!" Renee hugged back proudly, now picturing a happy and beautiful expression on her mommy's face. "I'm so glad that you're back, Jupiter. Everyone is!"  
  
And everyone did nod. They were all smiling that Jupiter was back to her normal health. Renee freed herself from her hug, and said hesitantly, "Uh, Daddy--oh! I mean, Tuxedo Mask..."  
  
"It's alright Renee," he forgave.  
  
"OK-- Daddy, but not to make you more sad, but-- Mommy would be really proud of you and love you. You and all of you Scouts." She tried to smile.  
  
Darien, surprisingly, smiled back without crying for his love. "I know; Serena has to be. That's why we won this battle. And Renee, thank you for your help, too."  
  
Renee smiled, "You're welcome, Daddy." She turned to everyone and said, "Hey, not to change the subject so fast, but don't you all want to forget about the Negaverse and our problems for a moment? Including you, Daddy? Let's try to have a bit of a good time out here at these heights." She stared at the moon.  
  
Venus crouched down and agreed, "Okay, Renee. We should all try to be a little better, even though it might not improve much. But, it's worth a try..." She trailed off as he voice started to crack up into little sniffles. She quickly redeemed herself as Renee stared at her. Everyone transformed back to their civilian forms and just stood there. Renee broke the silence as she said,  
  
"Do--do any of you want to go back to the camp? It--it's getting pretty chilly. And, we can all try to-- deal with these things, hopefully."  
  
Darien went over and patted her head. "We can try, Renee." He fixed his intent look on everyone else and suggested, "Do you all want to?"  
  
Lita, Amy, Raye, Mina, and Renee were all surprised. Darien was actually not crying? Still, Raye searched his face carefully and found that he was only hiding his pain with his words.  
  
"It might help, Darien," answered Raye.  
  
Everyone hesistantly nodded with fake smiles, "Ummhmm."  
  
It might help, Darien thought. I have to stay positive for Serena's sake; and to this whole world. Besides, I have the greatest friends in the world to help me cope with this. They can; since they're all going through the same situation as I am.   
  
All of the girls and Darien strolled back to the little camp. It was pretty late, so they had a late dinner and a little night swim to relax everyone a bit. Everyone tried to go to bed and eventually went to sleep. While Darien was lying on the furthest edge next to Renee, he made sure she was tucked in. After that, he looked through the top of the tent at the full moon. It was shining beautifully, alright.   
  
Good night, Serena, he thought. I'll love you always; no matter what the Negaverse does to us; past, present, and future, and all of eternity. He stared at the moon for a few more minutes and fell asleep; one of the most comforting in a long time.   
  
The end!!! 


	4. SMTVVTOTM4 Set 1

SAILOR MOON'S FAITH: THE SCOUT'S FAITH; MORE LOSS FOR DARIEN AND TUXEDO MASK (set 1)  
  
The Sailor Scouts' Fate:  
  
More of a Loss for Darien and Tuxedo Mask  
  
The doorbell of Darien's apartment rang. He dropped his rose as he quickly went to answer the doorbell.  
  
"Who could this possibly be?" muttered Darien, redeeming himself of his interior tears of sadness and exhaustion.  
  
The doorbell clanged again, and it was followed by gentle knock.  
  
"I'm coming!" called out Darien. He jogged to the door and peeked out the hole. He looked with surprise and happiness as he saw his girlfriends there. He quickly unlocked the door and greeted, "Hey, hi girls! Boy, you have no idea how good this is to have you here."  
  
Mina winked as she welcomed, "Hey, Darien!"  
  
Lita saluted her military styled salute, "Salute, Darien!"  
  
"Hello," replied Amy and Raye together at the same time.  
  
"Come on in," offered Darien, letting to the door open.  
  
Amy and the girls strolled in politely while Mina, who was in back, frantically tried to straighten her very short skirt and tank top.  
  
The girls automatically sat down as they placed their purses on their laps. Darien sat in front of them. Amy gazed into Darien's eyes concerned, "Darien, are you alright?"  
  
Darien smiled a bit as he answered, "Yes and no."  
  
Raye said, "Well, there's--a yes. Does that mean that it's good news?"  
  
Darien looked at Raye and the others as he sighed, "Well, the yes means that I know you'll be here whenever I need to talk to you."  
  
"Of course," acknowledged Mina.  
  
"Yes, we'll always be here for you. Count on it," promised Amy.  
  
"Yeah, I mean--you can always depend on us," stammered Raye.  
  
Darien looked at what seemed the floor for a minute.  
  
"Raye, has your ankle healed? It looks like you still walk a bit stiffly," questioned Darien.  
  
Raye looked at her ankle in her red dainty shoes and wiggled her foot as she responded, "The doctor says that my ankle would be fine. I still have to limp sometimes because the tissue inside still hasn't fully recovered to its normal being."  
  
"Yes, Raye and all of our injuries are better. Some are all completely healed," pointed out Amy.  
  
"Yeah, except the pain of the loss of Sailor Moon and Serena," thought Darien.  
  
"Have you girls found anything out helping Sailor Moon?" resumed Darien, rubbing his former wound to the head.  
  
"Well, we know one thing for sure," replied Mina. "And that is, it's not going to be easy to get Sailor Moon back. We came here to try to cheer you up a bit."  
  
"Yeah," joined in Lita.  
  
Once again, Darien curiously glanced at Raye's side.  
  
"Raye, one more thing," he started off.  
  
"Sure," asked Raye, "what is it?"  
  
"How's your hip from-- when Rube slashed you?" gulped Darien.  
  
Raye let out a small smile, and answered, "It's all better. Once in a while, I have to go to the doctor for a check up, but its find now."  
  
"That's one relief I can get off my back," responded Darien.  
  
Everyone was silent for a long time.  
  
Amy spoke, "Uh, Darien...in case...this might help you feel better...we have some news for you."  
  
Darien perked up and answered, "I'm all ears."  
  
"Well, I think I have something about...well...you know... Sailor Moon," stammered Amy.  
  
Darien was really listening now.  
  
"We know for sure that Rube wants her to be on his side," started off Raye.  
  
"And we think," Explained Mina, "that Rube must be using the same technique as Beryl used on you."  
  
Darien looked flushed, but he answered, "Well, I know that, but how could've Rube traced my time all the way back to Beryl? I mean, last time when Sailor Moon first officially started to fight against us, I remembered some of it as the same technique as Beryl's. Like the time-- well, I can barely remember-- when I fought Lita."  
  
Lita spoke up, "Well, maybe we could use the same way we used for you to get Serena back."  
  
"Well, maybe," replied Darien. "I think that's what Rube wants us to think, and probably that won't work."  
  
"We won't know until we try, Darien," opposed Raye.  
  
"We'll try if we find Sailor Moon," said Darien, "that is, if we ever find her."  
  
***  
  
Where in headquarters, Rube (who already made Sailor Moon an evil person) was talking with her.  
  
"So Rube," started off the evil Sailor Moon, "what's next up your sleeve?"  
  
Rube gripped Sailor Moon's hand as they looked at the city of Tokyo.  
  
"I'm glad that you brought me here," replied Sailor Moon, "now I can finally rule over something."  
  
Rube cackled silently as he responded, "Maybe we both should make Tuxedo Mask suffer a bit more, eh?"  
  
Sailor Moon looked up at Rube.  
  
"Brilliant," she agreed, "so what's your dynamite plan?"  
  
Rube shut of the view into the city, and glanced into Sailor Moon's eyes.  
  
"We could get the other Sailor Scouts to our side too," chuckled Rube. "Then, Tuxedo Mask would just really fall apart."  
  
Sailor Moon replied, casually, "How? The same way you got me?"  
  
"Maybe," answered Rube, "maybe we could use a bit of a different technique, to fool them all."  
  
"And who's going to do it?" asked Sailor Moon. "You or me?"  
  
Rube smirked, "You and me. You, me, and with a little help some of the nasty vampire villains; a perfect number to capture each scout; 4 against 4, with Tuxedo Mask helpless to face all of us and especially, you and me."  
  
"Cool," replied Sailor Moon. "When is it time to strike?"  
  
"How about as soon as possible?" suggested Rube.  
  
"Let's get to it," smiled Sailor Moon. "We're going to be unbeatable."  
  
"For sure," replied Rube.  
  
***  
  
"NO!!!" cried Tuxedo Mask. "Sailor Scouts! SAILOR SCOUTS!"  
  
All of the Scouts plunged into the Earth below to whoever knew.  
  
Darien sat up straight in bed, sweating and placing his head in his hands.  
  
"What's going on?" he asked. He let go and glanced around as he stumbled to the balcony. He looked at the starry night sky.  
  
"What does that dream mean?" he interrogated to himself. "Please don't tell me that I have to avoid the girls just like the way I had to avoid Serena." He clenched his fist and looked at the street below, leading to Tokyo Park and Fabby Park.  
  
"No," Darien answered with as much confidence as he could, "no. I'm not going to listen to my dreams anymore. It may seem sensible if I do listen to them, but they're wrecking my life up." He unclenched his fist and turned pale. "But, what if the Scouts are going to be gone too?"  
  
He stood at his balcony for the rest of the night, wondering and examining his dream.  
  
***  
  
Raye closed her eyes as she put her hands together.  
  
"Sacred Flame of Mars, guide me to find of what the Negaverse is up with Sailor Moon," commanded Raye, silently. "I feel some strange and evil force around here. Lend us your wisdom; show us the face of our enemy." She did some more hand movements, and that caused the Sacred Flame to flare wildly as it showed some blurred pictures. Raye's eyes snapped open.  
  
"It looks like that Rube is our enemy," she replied.  
  
The flame flared again and this time, it also showed Sailor Moon.  
  
Mina stood on her knees and refused to agree, "No. Sailor Moon isn't our enemy. She's truly one of us; the Sailor Scouts."  
  
Raye shook her head, "Looks like Rube wasn't the only one who helped did this. I feel that there was an accomplice. But I can't see or figure out who did!" She started to get impatient with herself.  
  
"It's alright, Raye," soothed Amy. She patted Raye's back as she continued, "We'll find a way."  
  
The evil images still showed.  
  
"Yeah, this other guy sounds evil," pointed out Mina.  
  
"But I keep wondering who is it? Where and what is it doing and from?" interrogated Raye.  
  
Lita's green eyes grew piqued as she promised, "Good question! Whoever it is is going to pay!"  
  
"Yeah, big time!" agreed Raye.  
  
Amy interrupted, "Hey you guys, maybe my computer can put out an analysis around this place, and Sailor Moon. I have my mini-data computer, and my home computer to do it."  
  
Raye stood up away from the fire as she brushed her robe.  
  
"Why don't we go to your house and work something out there?" she suggested.  
  
"Yeah, and hey, it's convenient," pointed out Mina.  
  
"Let's go!" cried Lita.  
  
"Right!" agreed everyone. Raye went to change, and then everyone left to Amy's house.  
  
***  
  
Rube and the brain-washed Sailor Moon prepared their evil warriors. They both stood in front of them, examining the warriors.  
  
"Now," ordered Sailor Moon, "this is a very important battle against all four of the rest of the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask. The thing is that you must capture the Scouts and bring them here injured, but alive.  
  
"Yes, your evilness," obeyed the ugly vampires. They remained standing up straight as soldiers were to do.  
  
Sailor Moon continued, "I will be in charge, and so will Rube. I'm going back into Tokyo to lead the stand-off duel while Rube is going to stay here, preparing all of the spells."  
  
"But Sailor Moon," cackled the red clothed vampire, "what about Tuxedo Mask?"  
  
"Yes, what are we going to do with him?" questioned the blue clothed vampire.  
  
Rube and Sailor Moon glanced at each other as Sailor Moon answered, "Well, the ideal thing is to make him suffer a bit more. I think the thing is to wear him down as much you could for him to be destroyed, or, we can cause the Scouts' attack without triggering an alert for him to rescue them." She was silent for a moment. "Maybe just do both."  
  
"Good idea," cackled the vamps.  
  
Rube strutted around, examining the vamps himself.  
  
"Have you got your fangs?" he questioned.  
  
"Yes, sir," answered the warriors. They opened their mouth to show him and Sailor Moon.  
  
"Good," assured Sailor Moon. She clapped her hands together. "We're ready for battle. Prepare for victory, everyone!"  
  
Everyone chuckled triumphantly as if they already had won.  
  
***  
  
At Amy's house, the girls sat on Amy's bed as Amy started up her computer.  
  
"I've conducted a program to hunt down Sailor Moon," explained Amy, "the same way I've conducted one to home in on the rainbow crystals into the Imperium Silver Crystal."  
  
Mina stretched her pretty legs on Amy's bed as she replied, "Does this program have anything on about the main porthole to the Negamoon at Raye's temple?"  
  
Raye sat up just when she heard that.  
  
Amy started to type rapidly on the computer with her left hand as she's typing on her little mini-data computer with her right hand.  
  
"I think that maybe we will get something statistical on about Raye's temple," agreed Amy. "I don't know if my mini-data computer has enough memory to do all of my calculations to convert into my home computer here."  
  
Lita sat up and asked, "Well, can your computers find a way into the porthole at Raye's temple without the help of Rube? Maybe we can get in and find Sailor Moon ourselves."  
  
"The thing is, is that this is going to be really difficult and will take time," responded Amy.  
  
"Time," chimed in Luna, "the one thing that we don't have and can't waste."  
  
"Well," broke in Artemis, "if we do find Sailor Moon, how are we suppose to change back to her old self again WITHOUT having to erase her memory the same way that happened to Darien? That's going to be the tough part of this part of this mission."  
  
"Maybe so, but it'll be worth it," answered Amy.  
  
Mina interrupted, "Well yeah, Artemis is right. Only Sailor Moon's Imperium Silver Crystal can heal people, and the thing is she's the only one that can use it to operate on people."  
  
"Then that means we're going to learn how to use it ourselves to help Serena," acknowledged Lita.  
  
Raye just sat there thinking in her head, silently.  
  
Mina glanced at Raye as she asked, "Raye, what you thinking about? I didn't hear your opinion about this."  
  
Raye paused in thinking as she replied, "Well, I know there's a way to heal Sailor Moon back, and we've almost done it before, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I just can't quite put my finger on it. I know it in my head somewhere..." She didn't finish explaining.  
  
Amy was still analyzing her data in her computers when she spoke, "Hey you guys, I think have something. I can't be sure if it's true or not, but I have a guess. It's about the porthole into the Negaverse."  
  
Everyone stopped in what they were doing and crouched to peer over Amy's shoulder.  
  
"Well, spill it, Amy," replied Mina. She curled her hair behind her ears and resumed her staring.  
  
"Well," started off Amy, "this is majorly strange, but my computers show that Rube for sure is interested in Raye's temple. All the attacks and battles we had with him before shows that he wants some energy from the temple, and then gradually take over the temple itself with the help of the porthole."  
  
Lita straightened her back as she asked, "I don't know, but when is he going to strike next?"  
  
"Rube for sure wants to surprise attack us when we least expect it," explained Amy.  
  
"That means he has that card dealt on us, and he won the deal, " said Mina.  
  
Raye disagreed, "No, that's not true. I think I can try to home in on him and when his next striking attack is going to be. We need to use my fire- reading again, though."  
  
"I'd just about give anything to find Rube and get him! He's going to pay for what he done to Sailor Moon!" marveled Lita.  
  
Raye was thinking inside, secretly, "Well, didn't have help before--? Yeah, we had help last time--" Then it came to her. "Of course! From the Starlight Sailor Soldieresses! They can help! They must and will! I personally know that Lea Liang also has my fire power, and can help me! All the Soldieresses have similar powers-- only more powerful-- to us and can help us! I'd better tell the other about this."  
  
"Hey Raye," woke Lita, "wake up, Raye... earth to Raye, hello!"  
  
"Huh? Oh, sorry Lita," apologized Raye. "I was just thinking about stuff."  
  
"Raye, we're thinking that maybe you can do another fire-reading at your temple later on," suggested Lita. "Maybe now?"  
  
Raye stood up. "Okay, let's go!"  
  
"Yeah, let's book it!" cried Mina.  
  
All of the girls scrambled from their seats and scurried hurriedly to Raye's temple again.  
  
***  
  
Meanwhile back in Rube's headquarters, Rube questioned, "So when do we strike? We need to plan the perfect time. Their cannot be any mess up."  
  
Sailor Moon tugged at her black leather outfit. She stood up and strolled over to Rube.  
  
"Well, there is a time that I know of," answered Sailor Moon.  
  
"And when is that?" asked Rube.  
  
Sailor Moon placed her hand on Rube's shoulder and answered, "Well, let's strike at night where the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask is pretty worn down from their day. Maybe we'll strike at around midnight, hmmm? The light is going to be just perfect for our victory celebration."  
  
Rube took Sailor Moon's hand down and held it as he responded, "You're brilliant, Sailor Moon. You're the only warrior that's worth keeping for helping me. Yes, indeed this is going to be a great victory. I can finally taste the joy of winning."  
  
"Good then," stood up straight Sailor Moon. "Everything's set. Say tomorrow night?"  
  
"Tonight it is," answered Rube. Both of them smiled triumphantly.  
  
***  
  
Back at Raye's temple again, she and her friends went to her fire-reading room and all sat down on the cushions. Raye then clasped her hands together and concentrated her power. In no time, she was already telling the future results.  
  
"Well, guys, I have some news," answered Raye.  
  
Mina stretched out her legs as she asked, "Bad or good?"  
  
"Uh...well...I can't say which one," stammered, Raye, "its bad news, I guess you can say."  
  
Lita rolled her eyes while Amy clenched her fist. She held her clenched fist to her heart and requested, "Well Raye, can you tell us about it?"  
  
Raye started to explain as she swirled around to her anxious friends.  
  
"Well, the way that the Sacred Flame tells me is that the next battle is tomorrow night," started off Raye. "and it looks like it's going to be a vicious battle."  
  
Luna and Artemis stepped forward.  
  
"I think that we need to work and train as much as we can this whole day and the whole next day," responded Luna.  
  
"Yeah, we have to work as hard as we can to defeat Rube. Our whole world is counting on us," blurted Artemis.  
  
"And we have to get back Sailor Moon," pointed out Lita.  
  
"Correct," answered Luna. "We must work hard and firm, but just enough to defeat Rube and get Sailor Moon back."  
  
"Right," agreed everyone.  
  
So right away and the next day, the girls and their guardian cats started to work hard at their training for their next battle. Luna and Artemis were giving out orders as the girls obeyed.  
  
***  
  
Lita stood behind Amy at the day of battle.  
  
"Amy, why are you placing two of Raye's charms and all of your calculations in your little mini-data computer? I don't see any reason why you need to do that," asked Lita.  
  
Amy looked up and smiled quickly, "Well, I'm just doing a little preparation for an emergency in battle."  
  
The night came to battle with Rube. All of the girls transformed into their Scout forms and went to the scene of the expected battle, which was on the top of Darien's apartment building, surprisingly. All of the Scouts were there in fighting stance. Luna and Artemis hid behind the elevator base for guarding.  
  
Suddenly, there was a flash of black lightning and pink clouds. Rube appeared before the Sailor Scouts.  
  
"Hello, Sailor Scouts, those who are left," greeted Rube, evilly. He let out a big smirk on his face. "Are you ready for your last battle in your life? Because we're going to whip you good, and take the Imperium Silver Moon Crystal and the kid Renee with me. Even though the war in Crystal Tokyo is over, I still want her for her powers!"  
  
Sailor Jupiter stepped forward and dealt, "Alright Rube, I'm going to make you a simple and pleasing deal with you. You bring Sailor Moon here and we'll make her well again with the Silver Imperium Crystal, and then we'll hand it over to you. BUT, Renee stays with us, alright?"  
  
There was a pause until there was another flash of light. Before Rube could settle his decision, the evil Sailor Moon appeared, and disagreed, "Well Sailor Scouts, looks like it isn't a deal to me. Just hand over the crystal to me, and then you can get on with your pathetic lives." Sailor Venus stepped forward with cute pouting looking face and begged, "Come on, Sailor Moon, there's still part of you in there that still remembers who you really are. We're your friends, Sailor Moon! All we're doing is trying to help you to be your old normal self again."  
  
"Yeah, we can help you," convinced Sailor Mars.  
  
Sailor Moon grumbled, "I was a fool to give the Crystal to you Sailorbrats. I should have kept it to myself, and I could have done whatever I pleased with it."  
  
"Sailor Moon, we can help you," pleaded Sailor Mercury.  
  
Sailor Moon floated up backwards and assured, "Well, Scouts. Guess we'll have to settle this won't we? Why don't meet your opponents, hmmm? Then, let's see who will win."  
  
A pink flashed and then appeared in front of the remaining good Sailor Scouts, were disgusting male vampires, each color of the vamp matching to the color of the particular Sailor Scout. They growled with their blood fangs sticking out of their mouths. The Sailor Scouts gasped and took a step back.  
  
Sailor Moon snuggled under Rube's arms and grinned. Rube sneered, "Here's you match Sailor Scouts. Guess we'll be back later on to retrieve the Imperium Silver Crystal. Have a good fight Scouts." Sailor Moon and Rube disappeared into thin air.  
  
The vamps started to advance on the Sailor Scouts in fighting stance. The Sailor Scouts fought their fears and charged to the vampires as well.  
  
The red vamp snorted, "I'm going to enjoy having drink from you, Sailor Mars."  
  
"In your dreams, ya' red neck!" confronted Mars.  
  
Jupiter held her fighting stance and slowly matched her vamps foot movements.  
  
"What's your blood-type, Jupiter?" retorted the green vamp.  
  
"Choke on a coronary, ya' punk!" cried Jupiter.  
  
The blue vamp snorted, "What's up techno-dweeb?"  
  
"Let's just stick to business, OK?" reasoned Mercury.  
  
"Hey, blonde, how about I share my blood to you, hmm?" asked the orange and yellow vamp. His fangs were dripping with drool and blood.  
  
Venus cried, "Prepare to taste some Sailor Scout medicine!"  
  
Mars crowned her eyebrows down and commanded, "Sailor Scouts, charge!"  
  
All of the Sailor Scouts charged towards the vampires demonstrating their karate moves, and then their powers. Mercury accidentally dropped her mini- data computer as it slid into the corner of the building. All of the Scouts' powers only wounded the vamps a bit, but didn't destroy them.  
  
Mercury, while fighting, yelled to her friends, "Sailor Scouts, we've got to destroy these vamps if we're ever going to win!"  
  
"But how? How are we suppose to do it?!" cried Mars. She jumped out of her vamps way.  
  
Mercury ducked down and jumped back up. "Well, we have to drive some sort of stake through each of their hearts! That's he only chance we'll get!"  
  
"Ha, you can sure try," cried the red vamp, "but nothing stands in the way of the great Negamoon!" He threw a fireball at Mars. She wasn't alerted, so she jumped away, irregularly. She fell on her side and head. Her vamp threw another fireball again, so Mars held her hands up in the way of the fireballs and shot out her celestial of fire. Her celestial shielded and destroyed the red vamp's fireballs, but all of the Scouts were starting to lose in their battles. Luna and Artemis couldn't stand it no longer. They jumped and scarred the green and red vamps on their faces. They stopped fighting and backed away from Mars and Jupiter for a moment, trying to regain their pain to normal state. Luna and Artemis made a dash down the building.  
  
While dashing, Artemis suggested to Luna, "Luna, we've got to get more help to the Scouts! We can't afford to lose them too!"  
  
"But how? What are we suppose to do?" inquired Luna.  
  
Artemis cried, "Let's go get Darien to help!"  
  
"Good idea!" agreed Luna. They dashed down as fast as they can to the sixth floor and balcony of the eight story high building. Darien's balcony door was open, so both cats jumped right in, in search for Tuxedo Mask. They found him in the kitchen, sitting at the table drinking something out of his mug.  
  
"Darien!" called out Artemis.  
  
Darien looked up from his staring at a picture of Serena and him and his drink.  
  
"Huh?" startled Darien. "Who just called my name?"  
  
He looked around and saw no one, so he just shrugged and went back to his staring and sipping.  
  
"Darien! Are you here?" called out Luna.  
  
Now Darien was sure that he really did someone.  
  
"Alright, who's here!" he commanded. He stood up, picking up his mug with him.  
  
"Over here Darien," called Luna. She pounced on his leg. Darien glanced down and jumped a bit.  
  
"Oh, Luna," responded Darien. "Hi!"  
  
"Yeah, how's it hangin' Darien?" greeted Artemis.  
  
"Fine, so far," answered Darien. He went back to the table and sat down. Luna and Artemis leaped on.  
  
"I wish I could as enthusiastic as you are, Darien, but help is needed now," explained Luna.  
  
Darien sat straight up and inquired, "What's happened? It is the girls?"  
  
Luna and Artemis hung their heads and slowly nodded, "Yes."  
  
Luna continued, "The Scouts are in a duel against Rube and his minions. They're losing, and they need your help."  
  
Darien sunk down on his chair with a crying look in his eyes.  
  
"I knew this would happen," he mumbled. "All of the rest of the Scouts; it's their turn like Sailor Moon. They're going to be taken away by Rube."  
  
"What?" asked Artemis and Luna.  
  
"Nothing," regained Darien.  
  
"Please, you've got to help them! You're their only hope!" begged Luna.  
  
"Come on! We need Tuxedo Mask right now!" reasoned Artemis.  
  
Darien frowned his eyebrows and asked with a bit of anger, "Where's the battle held at? I'm going to get that Rube for this!"  
  
Luna and Artemis sounded relieved and answered with a stiff smile, "Well-- it's being held on the top of this apartment building."  
  
Darien stood up and transformed into his Tuxedo Mask form.  
  
"Let's go!" cried Tuxedo Mask. He dashed off his balcony onto the next on top.  
  
Meanwhile, the Scouts weren't doing so well. All of them were on the floor gasping for breath, bruised and hurt.  
  
Jupiter, confident with anger, "I'm sure not giving up yet!"  
  
"Me neither, but what can we do?" questioned Venus.  
  
All of the Scouts struggled with all of their remaining strength to stand up in their fighting stance once more.  
  
"Ha!" cried the vamps. They all disappeared.  
  
"Huh?" asked Mercury.  
  
"Where did they go?" asked Mars.  
  
"Everyone, keep your guard up," ordered Venus.  
  
"Yeah, we don't know when they are going to strike next," replied Jupiter. She grasped her knee to stop her pain.  
  
Suddenly, the vamps appeared behind the Scouts. They cackled silently. By that time, Tuxedo Mask just arrived on the roof in front of the Scouts.  
  
"Sailor Scouts! Look out behind you!" cried Tuxedo Mask frantically.  
  
"Huh?" asked the Scouts.  
  
It was too late; the vamps grabbed each of the Sailor Scouts.  
  
"Ahhh!" screamed the Scouts. They struggled in the vamps arms as the vamps pressed the Scouts' back onto their fronts, raising them off the ground a bit.  
  
"Let them go!" commanded Tuxedo Mask. He sprinted towards the vamps with his sharp staff. The vamps blew their fireballs at Tuxedo Mask, and he was sent straight to one of the walls of the building.  
  
"Tuxedo Mask!" cried Mercury. She clenched her teeth together. All of the Scouts struggled violently against the vamps as they tightened their grip. Then, the red vamp offered, "Now, Tuxedo Mask. If you don't want these Scouts hurt, you'll hand over the Imperium Silver Moon Crystal to us."  
  
Mars squinted her eyes and cried, "Darien, don't give it to them!"  
  
Mars' vamp tightened his grip and Mars shouted, "Ahhhhhhhhh!" That squeeze practically took most of the light out of Mars.  
  
Tuxedo Mask was still trying to recover from his violent slam, but couldn't stand up too straight. He charged again, but he was blocked off by an energy force-field. He couldn't even get through.  
  
"You won't give it to us?" remarked the orange and yellow vamp. "Then say good-bye to your girlfriends!"  
  
"No!" cried Darien. He tried again at the force-field and got through, but the vamps jumped back, leaving Tuxedo Mask falling face down and struggling to get back up. They struck a spell on the Scouts so that they can't move.  
  
Venus was crying, and so was Mars. Jupiter looked exhausted and Mercury looked like she lost the battle. The vamps started to brush each of the girl's heads aside.  
  
"Get your hands of them!" commanded Tuxedo Mask.  
  
They brushed the Scouts' heads to their right, exposing their neck. All of the Scouts were crying softly but harder, with their tears falling on to the ground of the roof. Each of the vamps raised their heads and opened their mouths with their fangs revealed. All of the Scouts seemed like they couldn't breathe, for then they froze from everything. Darien forced himself up and cried, "NO! Sailor Scouts, fight them!"  
  
"It's too late for us, Darien!" cried Venus's last words.  
  
"Protect the Crystal for us!" cried Mars.  
  
"We'll always remember you!" sobbed Mercury.  
  
"We'll always be on your side!" promised Jupiter.  
  
Tuxedo Mask clenched his teeth and cried, "Hang on--, Scouts!" He started to charge forward again, and so did Luna and Artemis. The cats were slammed away to the roof door while Tuxedo Mask was sent at the wall of the roof again. He was dazed but stood up, groaning.  
  
The green vamp assured, "And now, the moment of truth." He and the rest of the vamps brushed the Scouts' neck to their right and prepared their fangs. Tuxedo Mask froze in terror and deep sadness.  
  
"Wait! I'll give you the Imperium Crystal! Please, just don't hurt the Scouts!" yelled Tuxedo Mask.  
  
But the vamps wouldn't listen. Slowly, their fangs aimed down to the Scouts' necks. Finally, the worst nightmare of Darien's came true. The fangs punctured right into all of the Sailor Scouts' neck. They let out a low cry, and couldn't make anymore sounds. Their eyes fell back, shutting their eyes. After about ten seconds, the vamps restrained their fangs from the Scouts', but lay their heads under the Scouts' necks. Then, the vamps then gradually let go of the Sailor Scouts, letting them fall to the ground face down in a splat with their arms and legs sprawled around them. To Tuxedo Mask, everything seemed so slow motion and nightmare-like. There were two holes on each of the Scouts' left side of their necks.  
  
"NO!!!" cried Darien. In his mind, he saw his dream about the Scouts' plunging down to their deaths. He redeemed himself and aimed his roses at the vamps' hearts, then threw them angrily. He has never been this angry and sad in his life, and he was crying. The vamps just disappeared into thin air, leaving the Scouts on the ground. After the vamps left, Darien hurriedly rushed to check the Scouts. One by one (Mars, Venus, Jupiter, then Mercury) he turned them over and felt their pulses twice. No pulse was felt on any of them.  
  
"No," started off Tuxedo Mask, "no, no! It can't be; all of the Scouts' are gone!" Then he fell on his knees and sobbed all of the tears and anger that could come out. He took the hands of the Scouts and cried even more. He has never felt so alone in his life. Luna and Artemis woke up from unconsciousness and staggered over to Tuxedo Mask. They each placed their comforting paws on him.  
  
"I've got to get the Scouts' some help!" assured Tuxedo Mask. He stopped his crying for a while. "Maybe I can aid them myself." He started to cry a bit again but then paused in sight of what he saw. Over each of the Sailor Scouts, a pink light and fog appeared over each of the Scouts.  
  
"Huh?" asked Tuxedo Mask. He then bounded and stood in front of the Sailor Scouts, and so did Luna and Artemis. A strike of lightning appeared, and the Scouts disappeared out of Tuxedo Mask's sight. He gasped and froze in horror as he watched his beloved girlfriends vanish.  
  
"No! Why has Rube taken you away Scouts? Is planning to turn you against me too! Oh, what am I going to do?" he wept. He once again collapsed on his knees and cried. Luna and Artemis tried to comfort Darien.  
  
"Darien, I know how you feel, and we'll help you get all of the Sailor Scouts back from Rube," promised Luna.  
  
"Yeah, we're going to whip him into shape; he and the whole Negamoon," agreed Artemis.  
  
Luna wandered around the roof top in search for clues that might help lead getting the Sailor Scouts back. She then came upon Amy's little mini-data computer. She grasped it with her mouth and carried it over to Darien's side for him to look at.  
  
"Tuxedo Mask!" called Luna.  
  
"What? Is there more bad news?" gripped Tuxedo Mask.  
  
Luna, almost in tears of joy, gave Darien the computer.  
  
"I think that Amy has purposely left something for you to have and look at," explained Luna, smiling with tears in her eyes. Darien picked the computer up.  
  
"What good is this computer going to be? I don't even really know how to use it. And besides, the only thing that this could possibly good for is to see where the porthole into the--," trailed off Tuxedo Mask. He gasped. Everything came to him now. He knew why Mercury and the rest of the Sailor Scouts left him Mercury's computer. It was to find the porthole into the Negaverse and how to open it. When he gets inside, he was suppose to defeat Rube and get all the Scouts back. Tuxedo Mask opened the computer and several pieces of paper dropped out and some other things. The things fell onto the roof top. Tuxedo Mask bent down to retrieve them. He understood now. Instantly, he felt a lot more relieved.  
  
"Amy probably had purposely dropped the computer on the ground for you to speculate and use," said Artemis.  
  
Tuxedo Mask didn't really hear Artemis. One by one, he picked up the items on the ground. First off were two of Raye's Mars' fireball charms, then there were several pieces of paper with a lot of complicated analysis math. There was then a whole picture of all of the Scouts together and a Sailor Scout styled envelope with, which happened to be a letter inside.  
  
"All of those things must be able to help get the Sailor Scouts back," replied Luna quietly.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Tuxedo Mask, examining the things at the same time. He opened the letter and read, sitting at one of the corners of the roof. He heard each of the Scouts individually saying the letter to him in the order of Raye, Lita, Mina, and then Amy:  
  
Dear Darien,  
  
Since this is going to be a good-bye in a way, I would just like to say something, from all of us Scouts. We did not tell you, but this battle we just fought with Rube was a duel with him to get Sailor Moon back. Looks like we lost, partially. The only things that you have to promise to take care for us, is the Crystal and Renee.  
  
But, the only way that we just came up with (actually, Raye came up with it) to get all of us Scouts back, is for you to come into the headquarters of Rube himself to retrieve us. The Crystal can't be used to heal, because only Sailor Moon can heal us. But Sailor Moon herself needs complete healing. So, here's the plan that Amy came up with, along with the rest of us;  
  
Do you remember the last battle we had? When it was the first time we saw Sailor Moon in her evil form? Well, we were thinking that you could call in the "Starlight Sailor Soldieresses" to help you, since we do know them all personally. You can contact them to help you, if you wish. Here's the number of Dya Chang Liu's (Starlight Libra): 131-4718. She's the only person who could also heal us besides with the Crystal.  
  
Thanks, Darien. We'll always remember you. Do your best. If you can't make it, we understand. Just protect the Crystal and Renee, and if you can't get all of us Scouts back, just get Sailor Moon.  
  
With Remembrance and Love,  
  
The Sailor Scouts  
  
After Tuxedo Mask finished reading the letter, he was silent for a moment while staring at the ending of the letter. Luna watched him.  
  
"Well Tuxedo Mask," started off asking Luna, "What are you going to do now?"  
  
Tuxedo Mask carefully folded the Sailor Scouts' letter and placed it back into the mini-data computer. He then put the computer in his pocket. While he was reading the letter, Tuxedo Mask eased down on his sadness, but he didn't feel much better. He was still yelling in anger and sadness inside.  
  
"Why did Rube and the Negaverse have to get to all of the Sailor Scouts? It's just so unfair!" asked Darien inside. "I feel like Rube has stabbed me in the heart with his evil sword. What am I going to do now?"  
  
Tuxedo Mask stood up and removed his top-hat and mask. He frowned his eyebrows down.  
  
"The thing that I'm going to do is," started Darien, "call Dya Liu." He clenched the mini-data computer firmly and tucked it inside his pocket. "And figure out what to do with this little package that the girls left me." He stood up and went back into his apartment, trying to fight off tears as he went.  
  
***  
  
Rube and his minions had the rest of the Sailor Scouts laid on the cold ground. He smirked, "Well, fine job minions. We've got the rest of the Sailor Scouts."  
  
Sailor Moon flounced to him and rejoined, "And we also made Tuxedo Mask sad to wear him down. I say that this is a time to celebrate victory, and the start to conquer Crystal Tokyo ourselves!" Rube and Sailor Moon laughed wickedly as they glanced at the minions.  
  
"Nice job you've done, Vamps," complimented Rube.  
  
Sailor Moon strolled over to the red vamp and asked, "Did you feed enough on them? And did you add in some of your stuff in it to them to make them turn against Tuxedo Mask?"  
  
"Yes ma'am," answered the red vamp. He grinned.  
  
"Those Scouts' have some vibrant and delicious red stuff," remarked the orange vamp.  
  
Sailor Moon walked about the vamps and examined them. Then she turned back to Rube.  
  
"Well, hon'," improvised Sailor Moon, "shall we give these Scouts their new state of mind?"  
  
Rube strided over and placed his armed around Sailor Moon as he looked down at her.  
  
"Let's do it," said Rube.  
  
Sailor Moon snapped her fingers. Each of the vamps carried a Sailor Scout and brought them to another cold ground and straightened the Scouts out. Sailor Moon then snapped her fingers, and then some smoke surrounded the Scouts. When the smoke cleared, they sat up in completely new revealing, leathery black costumes and upside down crescent moons on their foreheads. Each of their bottom halves of their bodies were branded with very short leathery pieces of clothing while their upper bodies were cover with black leather pieces of clothing that go down almost exposing their whole upper chest (breasts). Mars stood up and so did the rest of the Scouts.  
  
"Let's get Tuxedo Mask," envied Mars, smiling a mean smile. All of the Sailor Scouts, which are now evil, did the same.  
  
***  
  
Back in Darien's apartment, he lay on his bed, trying to sleep and feel a bit better. He didn't change out of his tuxedo, but he did remove his mask and hat. Luna and Artemis were allowed to stay for the night, so they spent the night there also. Meanwhile, Darien; twisting, tossing and turning, couldn't sleep. Once in awhile, he starts crying and calling out the Scouts' names. He visualized each Scout; of their memorable incidents involving each of them individually with Darien:  
  
"Raye, I'm kind of in a hurry you know," replied Darien. Raye didn't let go of Darien's shirt.  
  
"Oh, you know my name? I thought--you might not remember," stammered Raye. There was a pause as Raye gently grasped Darien's arm. "Are you coming back from martial arts class?"  
  
Darien looked confused but answered Raye, "Yeah--, I'm studying karate."  
  
"Gee-- I was thinking of taking a karate class myself," blushed Raye  
  
"You should," responded Darien, "It's great!" He continued to look at her funny.  
  
Raye bobbed her head down and mumbled to herself, "Oh, too shy." Suddenly, she perked herself up and asked, "So, do you want to get a milkshake with me?"  
  
"Well, I'm supposed to be meeting someone...," trailed off Darien.  
  
Raye, still not giving up, suggested, "Hey, we can do take out..."  
  
"Nah, they can wait," finished Darien. Raye looped her arm around Darien and took him to a nearby restaurant. He was trying to loosen up of Raye's grip, but he just shrugged and smiled.  
  
After that memory, Darien managed to cry out in a whisper, "Raye." He then sobbed, "Lita."  
  
"Really, Lita," explained Darien, "you're gonna make fools of yourselves."  
  
"But we're Love Scouts!" disagreed Lita. Darien sucked in his breath and looked confused, thinking that Lita and Serena were wacko. Lita continued, "And we won't give up 'til our mission is accomplished; and one of us dates Andrew."  
  
Darien rolled his eyes and remarked, "Oh brother, I wonder if I was ever this wigged out when I was in junior high school."  
  
Lita gasped and then cried, "Wigged out! Take it back!" She grasped her hands around Darien's neck and choked him, making him collapse to the ground for a moment. She then let go and asked, concerned, "Uh---are you okay?"  
  
Tuxedo Mask managed to laugh a bit, but it seemed more like a choked up sob than a laugh.  
  
Mina held up a finger to halt a stop.  
  
"Hold on a sec'," ordered Mina. She made a blushy, cute face and continued, "I think I should play Snow White because I have the best stage presence here. And, I'm the most graceful."  
  
All of her friends made angry faces toward her.  
  
"Stop it girls. Come on," halted Darien. "You know there are more parts than just Snow White. Like the wicked witch or the prince."  
  
Mina started to giggle, then laugh as she winked, "Call me wacko Darien, but I think that you just might have an edge of the role over us as the Prince."  
  
Darien laughed.  
  
Later on, after practicing for the play, Mina and all of the girls blushed, "Good night, Prince Charming!"  
  
"Mina," he whispered next. He tried to wipe away all his tears with his red handkerchief.  
  
Amy held up her new wand, and started to look sad. She turned to Darien and cried, "Oh, Darien, I can't! Can you give me a ride back please?" Darien nodded.  
  
"I can't do this," pouted Amy. She looked out onto the runway of the airport and gripped her wand to her chest. "Hey, there's plenty of time to become a doctor. I'll just reapply in a couple of years from now when I'm really ready to do this. Right now, I want to be home with my friends." She looked serious.  
  
Darien took Amy's luggage and placed it in his red sports car. Amy climbed in and he started to drive. While driving, Darien replied, "I think the girls might be on a mission, Amy."  
  
"And Amy," wept Darien. He began to cry more as he buried his face into his pillow.  
  
"I am Sailor Moon, the champion of justice!" announced Sailor Moon.  
  
"Sailor Mercury!" proclaimed Sailor Mercury.  
  
"Sailor Mars!" cried Mars.  
  
"Sailor Jupiter!" revealed Jupiter.  
  
"Sailor Venus!" announced Venus.  
  
All of the Sailor Scouts stood in a motto-looking form and cried all together, "We shall punish you! We are the Sailor Scouts!"  
  
Darien felt more sad and angry. "Sailor Scouts!" he managed to cry. To him, it seemed like this was the end of the world.  
  
I've lost just about everything! What am I going to do now!" he exclaimed. He sat up and wiped his tears again and blew his nose.  
  
"That's not true, Darien!" cried out a familiar voice.  
  
Darien paused and looked all around. "Who was that?"  
  
He then felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. He looked up. It was Sailor Mars!  
  
"What--?" asked Darien.  
  
"Relax Tuxedo Mask; it's us!" called out another voice. It was Sailor Venus's!  
  
"You didn't lose everything yet, Darien," explained Mercury.  
  
"Yeah, we're still around. Don't give up. You can't be sad forever," remarked Jupiter. "Maybe we're not the same as going to be, but you can't give up, otherwise we'll lose for sure."  
  
"I know this will seem like a tough grieving period for you, but if you look in your heart, we'll never leave or forget you," replied Mars.  
  
"And you'll never forget us," replied Sailor Moon.  
  
Darien jumped back at the see-through Scouts. He looked really happy.  
  
"Sailor Scout!' rejoiced Tuxedo Mask."You're okay!" He tried to go to them, but the Scouts moved away.  
  
"We're not all real at the moment," explained Mercury. "It's just our souls trying to help you."  
  
"Come on, Darien," pleaded Sailor Moon, "look in your heart. You know that we haven't left yet. Maybe our bodies are evil, but are souls are still good."  
  
"We believe in you, Darien," promised the Sailor Scout. "We know that you won't let the Negaverse win."  
  
Darien, with tears in his eyes again, disagreed, "I--I can't do this! I can't do this alone!"  
  
"But you have the Starlight Soldieresses," reminded Mars.  
  
Darien stood up. "You're right. I can't let you guys down. I've got to save you guys---well, you know what I mean."  
  
Venus took Tuxedo Mask's hand and gripped it.  
  
"Remember, even though that most of me is going to be evil, there will always be some part of us that will remember," replied Venus. She and the rest of the Scouts stood up and started to leave by going out of Darien's balcony.  
  
"Wait!" begged Darien. "Where are you going? Why can't you stay?"  
  
The Scouts just smiled and waved. Sailor Moon, Venus, and Raye gently blew kisses while they disappeared. Darien just stood out at the balcony, hoping that the Scouts would come back. He almost started to grieve again when a shooting star soared right by. He remembered what to do when you see a shooting star, so he made a wish;  
  
"I wish, I wish oh shooting star; please let the Starlights successfully help me with getting all of the Scouts back." As he made that wish, he went back onto his bed, curled up and prayed for the Scouts to help him sleep.  
  
***  
  
"So," started off Sailor Moon to her Sailor Scout friends. "All that's left is Tuxedo Mask to get to. Any ideas?"  
  
Jupiter strolled over to Sailor Moon and placed her black-leathered gloved hand on Sailor Moon.  
  
"Don't worry, we'll think of something," replied Jupiter. She smirked.  
  
"Yeah, maybe we should destroy him, huh?" suggested the evil Mercury.  
  
Venus stepped forward and suggested, "Maybe we could bring him here."  
  
"Oh no, not again," replied Mars. "Do we have to injure him to bring him back to Rube?"  
  
"Well, not necessarily," answered Sailor Moon. "We could just tie him up and bring him here for a ransom."  
  
Jupiter caught on. She snapped, "A ransom to give up the Silver Crystal to us to save himself! Cool!"  
  
Mercury cautioned, "How are we going to it? Do we take him ourselves?"  
  
"I've already asked Rube that, and he said alright," answered Sailor Moon.  
  
"So it's a plan?" questioned Mars.  
  
""It's a plan!" agreed the traitor Scouts. They all high-fived themselves in agreement and confident triumphance.  
  
***  
  
For next several days (just about week and a half), Darien was too sad and insecure to do anything. He couldn't concentrate when he's working at work at the movie studio, he couldn't relax, and he spends half his nights of sleep tossing and turning in nightmares and other uncomfortable thoughts. So a few days later, he decided to take a little stroll in the city to loosen up. He walked down Main Street. As he walked he often put his head down, but sometimes looks up at the stores.  
  
"All these stores and places remind me of the girls," though Darien, close to tears. "The gym for karate for Lita, the book stores which are almost everywhere for Amy, the food courts and anywhere with food for Serena, and the mall...the mall for Serena and Mina the best, and the other girls. Whenever I see fire or red, I see Raye and/or Sailor Mars. When I see green and sports, I see Lita and/or Sailor Jupiter, orange and yellow to Mina and/or Sailor Venus, and most of all... red, white, and blue for Serena and Sailor Moon!" He started to walk faster, but then slowed way down. He finally stopped at the park.  
  
"So many lost memories," grieved Darien. He sat under a tree, remembering his photo with Serena. "Every time I see my red car or any at all, I remember all of the girls in the picture I took of them leaning at my car." Darien hesitated, but decided, "Maybe I should head on home. Right now, just about everything reminds me of the Sailor Scout." He headed home.  
  
When he got to his apartment, Luna and Artemis were there, practically waiting for him.  
  
"Darien," replied Luna.  
  
"Huh? What's up? Is it something useful?" answered Darien. Tears started to form majorly in his eyes. He started to brush them away, but it was no use. He couldn't stop his grief over the Sailor Scout.  
  
"Darien, you need to calm down. Please, just listen to for one minute, and I think we have some news that you'll like, but not too much."  
  
Darien sat straight up and listened attentively. "I'm listening."  
  
"Well," started off Luna, "I think I sensed that Rube is sending down all of the Sailor Scout to challenge you to a fight, but I don't know what kind. You need to be prepared."  
  
Darien looked happier; in fact he even had his first smile ever since the Scouts were gone.  
  
"I'm going to try to take this chance as to get the Scouts back," he remarked.  
  
Luna looked downward and then asked, "But how are you going to do it? You can't use the Silver Imperium Crystal for healing. Only in the powers of Sailor Moon could heal and use this."  
  
Darien started to look sad again. He slid out a rose from his pocket and held it, staring at it. He suddenly perked up.  
  
"I have an idea!" cried Darien. He surprised Luna so much that she pounced back.  
  
"Well, we're all ears," said Artemis.  
  
"Wait one moment," requested Darien. He went to his bedroom and snatched Mercury's mini-data computer, which is still containing the items that the Scouts left in it. He pulled out the letter. He nodded his head in confidence.  
  
"Yes, why didn't I think of this before!" cried Darien. He started to explain, "Remember that the Scouts left us this package? Well in the letter, it said to contact Dya Chang Liu for help!"  
  
"So? What good are Dya and the Starlights going to do? They can probably help you battle, but that's all," teased Luna.  
  
Darien sat down and argued gently, "Well, doesn't Dya, 'Starlight Libra', have the Star Wand? And doesn't that heal people, too? And almost even more powerful?"  
  
Artemis and Luna pounced with joy.  
  
"Darien, you've found a way to get the Scouts back!" cried Luna.  
  
"And I bet what Raye left of her anti-evil charms and what Amy left of her calculations, we could find the way into the Negaverse, to get the Scouts!" remarked Darien. He stood up and reached for his phone as he dialed.  
  
***  
  
The phone at the Chang residence rang. 13 going on 14 year old Dya Chang Liu, in her books stood up to reach her bedroom phone. She was wearing a sophisticated outfit of a short-sleeved blouse with a black sweater vest over it, a very, very, short black, tight, nylon skirt, white knee-highs, and a beautiful long white bow wrapped around her long, ebony hair.  
  
"Hello, Dya Chang here," greeted Dya in a sweet voice. Her boyfriend (really husband from her kingdom past) , seventeen going on eighteen Patrick Darien Liu jumped up from his studying next to Dya and stretched as he tried to listen who Dya's talking to.  
  
Darien tried to stay calm while talking; "Dya Chang?"  
  
"Yes," answered Dya. "Who is this?"  
  
"Well, Dya, it's me, Darien," he answered. "From the Sailor Scout? As Tuxedo Mask?"  
  
"Oh, Darien!" emphasized Dya in excitement. "Wow, how are you? And the Sailor Scout? I haven't heard from you in a long time!"  
  
Darien cleared his throat as he continued, "I'm fine, I think. But the reason I'm calling, is that I need your help, Starlight Soldieresses and both Dariens."  
  
"Who is it?' whispered, Dar' (Patrick's nickname by everyone).  
  
Dya covered the receiver and answered, "Its Darien, from the Sailor Scout." She went back to the conversation with Darien.  
  
"So what's wrong?" questioned Dya, sitting on her bed.  
  
"It--it's the Scouts," stammered Darien, ready to cry once again.  
  
Dya seemed to have to noticed, so she asked, "Darien are you okay? Are you crying for something?"  
  
Darien quickly adjusted his attitude and tried to explain as calmly as possible. Darien explained the whole sad, zany story:  
  
"Well first, Rube and his minions had come here to try to capture Renee and the Imperium Silver Crystal. After we had beaten him, he was bent on revenge. He captured Sailor Moon, the same way that Barrel of the Negaverse got me. Then--well, you know, you came to help us with one of the battles."  
  
Dya interrupted, "Yes, I remember that."  
  
"Anyway," he continued, "now, after that, he was bent on more revenge; against the rest of the Sailor Scout and me! He sent his vampires to bring the other Sailor Scout back, and they did, by draining their blood, just like regular vampires."  
  
Dya froze and gasped so loudly that Dar' was startled by it. She started to form tears in her eyes as Darien tried to continue more.  
  
"He got them now, and all that he wants left is the Crystal. And now, I know you're far away, but I need you and all of the Starlight team's help. Rube wants an exchange of the Crystal for my life." He grabbed a Kleenex and wiped his eyes. Luna and Artemis came over and put their paws on him, trying to comfort him.  
  
Dya also shedded tears and stammered, "H--hold on for a sec'." She placed the receiver in her lap, slowly. Dar', concerned, came over and put his arms around Dya as well as placing his head on Dya's, too.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked as he let go, staring into Dya's brown eyes. Dya wiped her eyes and explained, "The Scouts-- they've--been taken away by Rube, practically almost near death. I think we should call up the rest of the Starlights and prepare them go to Tokyo. We need to help Darien protect Renee and the Silver Crystal."  
  
"Wait, who's Renee?" questioned Dar'.  
  
Dya sat straight up and picked up the receiver, covering it.  
  
"I'll explain in a minute, Dar'," promised Dya. "Will you call up the rest of the team and tell them to meet me here?" She was in tears again.  
  
Dar', more worried and sad (who was close to tears himself), nodded, "Sure. I'll call them. I'll do anything to help you and Darien right now." He kissed Dya and the cheek and scurried to his backpack and picked up his cell phone. He started to dial Lea's, Stephanie's, Shannon's, Melanie's, Melisa's, Serene's. and Darien's (another one!) numbers. Meanwhile, Dya returned in talking with Darien.  
  
"Darien?" replied Dya.  
  
"Y--yeah?" he answered.  
  
"The word is clear," agreed Dya. "All of the Starlights agreed to come and help you. We'll be at Tokyo as soon as possible."  
  
Darien sounded relieved, "Thank you so much, Dya, and the rest of the Starlight team."  
  
"No prob'," remarked Dya, soothingly. "We promise you that we're going to get the Sailor Scout back, and get Rube for this. He's going to get a great, big dose of Starlight Soldieress and Sailor Scout medicine." Dya was red with fury.  
  
Darien couldn't help but choke out a laugh. "Thanks, Dya."  
  
"We'll let you know when we arrived at the airport. We're going to take either a bus or sub-train, or any type of transportation to get to your place," she suggested.  
  
"OK, it's settled then," replied Darien, more relieved, "I'll catch you later."  
  
"Bye, Darien," saluted Dya. She added, "Don't grieve so much."  
  
"Thanks," thanked Darien. He and Dya on both lines hung up together. Afterwards, Dar' was still on the phone, making his next phone call.  
  
"Hi, Lea? This is Dar'," greeted Dar'. "Listen, you've got to come over to Dya's house right away. This is an emergency meeting for all the Starlights. OK, later." Dar' said the same conversation to all of the team.  
  
Later on that day, all of the Starlight team met at Dya's house.  
  
"Xian zhai you shenme shi? What's currently the trouble?" asked Lea Liang when she arrived. Everyone grabbed a place and sat down.  
  
Dya stood in front of everyone with Dar'. She started to explain, "We've got to pack and get to Tokyo right away. It's trouble in the Sailor Scout."  
  
"What's exactly wrong?" asked Shannon Sweet.  
  
"Is it serious?" asked Stephanie Chen.  
  
Dya held a hand up to a halt. "Wait. Yes, unfortunately, the problem is serious. You all remember our archrival, Rube, right?"  
  
Melisa Kates nodded, "How could we forget? He's the one whom we had many battles with."  
  
"Well, it seems that the Scouts..." Dya railed off, choking on a sob. Dar' went to her side to try to comfort her by patting her back.  
  
Serene Parkington asked, concerned, "What's wrong, Dya?"  
  
Dar' took over as he cleared his throat, "Well, you all remember we all went to help the Scouts to try to get Sailor Moon back to her old self. Well, it's gotten worse. Ever since Tuxedo Mask Darien lost her, he's been under so much grief as well as the Scouts that they let part of their guards down. Now, Rube has sent his vampires, and...Well... they drained the Scouts. Rube also took them back with him. Now Darien needs help to try to protect the Silver Imperium Crystal and Renee."  
  
All of the Starlights looked down.  
  
"Oh, no," wept Melanie Brooks.  
  
While Serene was crying, Darien Li (her boyfriend and hubby from their kingdom past) wrapped his arms around her. They all wept a little but then paused.  
  
"There is some good news," sniffled Dya. "The Scouts aren't killed. They've probably been turned against Tuxedo Mask."  
  
Everyone stopped crying and looked a bit happier.  
  
"Well," replied Lea, "at least that's some good news."  
  
"Yeah," replied Stephanie. "By the way, who's Renee?"  
  
"Renee's a girl from the future so Darien says. She came back into the past, here, to try to retrieve the Imperium Crystal, but not anymore. She came back here to visit Serena and Darien and the Scouts. She looks just like Serena, so Darien says," explained Dar'.  
  
Dya blew her nose and straightened her nylon skirt.  
  
"I think we need to get to Tokyo, Japan as soon as possible," she suggested. "The sooner the better. We've all got our passports right? And does everyone have enough money?"  
  
"Hey, you know that we all have some money buried in our clothes somewhere and we all have big accounts," remarked Melanie. "So don't score me, girlfriend!"  
  
Dya laughed. "I guess that's yes then. We have to check when's the soonest time we could go."  
  
"Dya, aren't you forgetting something?" asked Shannon.  
  
"What?" asked Dya.  
  
"All of our parents are out of town," answered Serene, "except for Lea's grandpa and her brother, and my parents. Everyone else is out of town."  
  
Lea picked up Dya's phone and dialed. Then, in a few seconds, she hung up and answered, "Grandpa said its okay for me to go."  
  
"Did you tell him how long?" asked Melisa.  
  
"About one and a half weeks, maybe less, for a vacation with my friends," answered Lea.  
  
"And you, Serene?" asked Melanie.  
  
"Mom'll let me go. She always does. I did all my HW, chores, got good grades, and she always has confidence that I'll be with you guys all the time."  
  
"OK, it's settled then," answered Dya. She picked up the China Airlines' guide and glanced through, flipping through the pages. She paused and then spoke up.  
  
"The next flight into Tokyo that is direct and cheapest is tomorrow morning, 10:00 a.m. That means we have to get everything ready by today," teased Dya. "We're just going to pack for a week and bring some money."  
  
"That's easy," responded Darien Li. He stood up and stretched. "I can pack up in half an hour."  
  
"OK," agreed Dya, "we'll meet at the Canton Subway tomorrow morning, at about seven thirty, and we'll take the Canton Subway to the airport."  
  
"Agreed," answered everyone.  
  
***  
  
So, at the next morning 7:30 a.m., everyone with their yawning faces met at the Canton Subway with heir bags, money and passports.  
  
"Everyone's here, right?" called out Dya.  
  
"Yes," answered everyone else.  
  
"OK, then, let's go," she answered Dya. She and her friends bought their tickets and climbed on. After about twenty-five minutes, they arrived at the world's largest Hong Kong Airport. They hopped out, carrying their luggage, and went in to buy their tickets plus having their luggage carried on by the plane. Then they went through the metal detectors and went to Gate 81, the direct flight of the China Airlines' plane to Tokyo. By the time the whole Starlight team got the gate with their extra backpacks, it was about eight-thirty.  
  
"Well," said Shannon in her purple short shorts, pulling down her purple cap, "we certainly got time left to spare."  
  
"Anyone up for some breakfast?" asked Dar'.  
  
"You bet," answered Serene.  
  
Everyone then went to a cafe and ordered. Afterwards, they all went to some shops and looked all around. By that time, it was about nine-fifteen.  
  
"We should probably all go to the bathroom and then head back," suggested Melisa. "We should get on early."  
  
"Agreed," replied everyone.  
  
They all went and came back just in time for the speaker to announce the entering of the plane. All of the team gave their tickets and walked down the hallway and into the plane. They found their seats, which were all in one row. They put their bags aside and sat back.  
  
"So," replied Stephanie, "do we give Darien a call went we get into Tokyo?"  
  
Before anyone could answer back, Melanie answered, "Seems that way."  
  
"We can't just bring on the Scout problem once we see Darien," replied Darien.  
  
"Yeah, we don't want him to start feeling sad all over again," replied Lea.  
  
After fifteen minutes of more of talking, the captain announced over the speaker in Cantonese and Mandarin.  
  
"Good morning passengers, and welcome to China Airlines at Hong Kong Airport, the largest airport in the world. I will be your captain throughout this flight to Tokyo, Japan, Captain Jun-Sheng. We will begin our departure to Tokyo in fifteen minutes. Enjoy your flight, and have a nice day!"  
  
The Starlight team were talking on most of the way to Tokyo.  
  
"Hey," Dya whispered suddenly, "did all of you bring your wands and power sources?"  
  
All of them nodded as an answer.  
  
"Whew," replied Dya, "for a second there, I thought we were in definite trouble."  
  
"Dya, you know that the wands must be carried where ever we go," said Melisa.  
  
Dya laughed and laid her head back. Then, she leaned her head onto Dar's shoulder. Dar' himself let his arm around Dya, and they both relaxed during the flight. The rest of the Starlight team leaned back and closed their eyes for a short, relaxing flight.  
  
***  
  
Back Darien's place, he stared at the pictures he had, particularly the Scouts' and the Starlights. He tried to remember what happened in each picture, but the pictures were too painful to look at. He then tried to take a little jog, so he went out for about half an hour. When he came and took a shower, he still didn't feel much better. Then the telephone rang. He picked it up.  
  
"Hello, this is Darien," he greeted.  
  
"Hi, Darien? This Lea Liang for Starlight Aries from the Starlight Soldieresses," she answered.  
  
Darien sat straight on his bed and tried to focus, "Hi, Lea. Um... are you here in Tokyo with all the rest of the Starlights?" He started to get anxious.  
  
Lea nodded, "Yeah, Dya couldn't call you because she and the rest of the Starlights are trying to get in line for picking up their luggage. I just want to tell you that we're here now, and we'll be heading over to your place very soon. You probably want to stay home until we get there, but we might be late coming in because we have to find a place for staying over night."  
  
"Okay, I'll stay home until you arrive," promised Darien.  
  
"Good. Look, I've got to go. I said I'd meet the rest of the team at the terminal and luggage area now. Bye," saluted Lea.  
  
"Later," promised Darien, and he hung up. As he hung up, he started to rejoice in a strange manner. "Oh, the Starlights are here now! Now, for sure I'm going to get the Sailor Scout back!"  
  
About two and a half hours later, the Starlight team arrived. They all greeted Darien with tears, smiles and hugs. Each of them didn't bring up the subject of the Sailor Scout when they came in. Dya greeted Darien by giving him a general hug and little peck on the cheek.  
  
"Darien, it's so great to see you!" cried Lea.  
  
Darien was moved with happiness as he let the Starlights in, and they sat down. After they all were finished with their greetings, there was a strange and long moment of silence.  
  
Darien Li, who was sitting next to Darien, patted Darien's shoulder.  
  
"Darien, as much as you don't like discussing this, we're really sorry for what happened to the Sailor Scout," replied Li, sympathetically. All of the rest of the Starlights drooped their heads down in sadness and early exhaustion.  
  
"I really didn't want this to happen, but I feel that this is my fault or something," replied Darien. His voice started to shake up into a low and hoarse whisper.  
  
Dar' calmly and comfortingly patted Darien's shoulder.  
  
"You shouldn't say that," pleaded Dar'.  
  
"Yeah, it wasn't your fault," soothed Dya.  
  
Serene and Lea took out their Starlight wands and gripped them tightly to try to find courage. The also tried to hide them for the moment to not remind Darien of the tragedy. Unfortunately, Shannon (who had her head down) and Melisa (who was examining Lea at the moment) both saw Serene and Lea, and spoke up, interrupting Dya and Darien.  
  
"Serene; Lea," replied Shannon. She looked at Dya.  
  
"Sorry," apologized Shannon, "I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation."  
  
"It's alright," answered Darien before Dya could, "I guess we could change the subject a bit."  
  
Melisa nodded and asked Lea, "Lea, are you okay? Why are you gripping your wand so tightly?"  
  
"For courage of fire," answered Lea, wisely.  
  
"And for the comfort of virgin flowers," responded Serene.  
  
Stephanie started to look strange, so she changed the subject.  
  
"Darien," started off Stephanie.  
  
"Yes?" answered all three Dariens.  
  
"No, I meant Tuxedo Mask," reassured Stephanie. The other Dariens laid back.  
  
"Well..., sooner or later we'll have to bring this up, but we have to discuss our plan to get the Scouts back," she finished.  
  
Before Darien could react, Luna stepped forward and spoke up, clearing her throat, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I think I know when's the next battle of when Rube and the Sailor Scout -- which I think then might be turned against us-- is and where it's taking place."  
  
Everyone turned and looked at Luna with anxiousness, especially Darien.  
  
"Darien, I think you might have heard me saying this before, but for the rest of you, I have a guess that the next is going to be at Tokyo Park sometime soon. I think we should start preparing as soon as possible," explained Luna.  
  
"Yeah, the sooner and more we prepare, the better chance we'll get the Scouts back and defeat Rube," remarked Artemis.  
  
Lea stood up with her wand in her hands and was about to say something, but it seems like she forgot and sat back down.  
  
Stephanie spoke, "Well, if the Scouts and Rube are going to turn up in Tokyo Park, they're definitely going to look for Tuxedo Mask, or Darien, in other words. I think we can let him stand out in the open to let the Scouts get him. When the time's right, we could jump in and take each of the Scouts while Dya, you as Starlight Libra could prepare your Sapphire Star Wand to heal all of them."  
  
"Good plan," complimented Serene.  
  
"Yeah, I think that this is a solid ambush," remarked Melanie.  
  
Everyone then turned to look at Darien, waiting for an honest opinion.  
  
"Well, what do you think Darien?" asked Melissa.  
  
Darien was quiet and hesitated, but then answered, "I think that it's a good plan."  
  
Lea just then gasped, "Oh, no!"  
  
She gasped so suddenly that it made everyone in the room jump.  
  
"What? What's wrong?" asked Shannon.  
  
Lea, who has the same type of special power as Raye for fire-reading and visions, corrected, "I think that something's wrong. Luna, I'm sorry, but I think that you're prediction that the first attack of the Scouts at Tokyo Park is wrong. I just had a quick flash of a vision that the Sailor Scout are going to be at Raye's temple."  
  
"What else did you see?" asked Melissa.  
  
"I don't know," answered Lea, lamely. "I really can't make out or figure out what's next. That's all I can see. One thing for sure is that that Scouts are turned against us, probably even worse then Sailor Moon. I can't see what they're doing, though."  
  
Melanie sat back and said, "Well at least we know the location of the battle, and a bit more info." She then turned to Lea and questioned, "Do you see when this battle is going to occur?"  
  
Lea closed her eye and then quickly opened them. "Yes and the battle's around tomorrow night and probably going to into the early morning after that. But, I'm not so sure."  
  
"Tomorrow? Then we'd better start training right away," suggested Li.  
  
"Good idea," agreed Luna.  
  
"Right!" agreed everyone else.  
  
"Darien, I forgot to tell you this, but we have an errand to do tomorrow afternoon, but we'll try to be back as fast as we can," replied Shannon.  
  
"Alright," answered Darien.  
  
Everyone then went to Raye's temple to train.  
  
***  
  
All of the Sailor Scout were spying on Darien and the Starlights to see what they're doing at Raye's temple.  
  
"What are they doing at my temple?" asked Mars.  
  
Jupiter examined the picture and answered, "Looks like they're training there for our duel with them."  
  
"Speaking of which, are we all ready yet?" asked Venus. She adjusted her costume.  
  
"We're ready as rain," responded Mercury. She grinned.  
  
All of the Sailor Scout high-fived each other with confidence.  
  
***  
  
At the night of the battle, there was a full moon. Darien was already transformed and ready as Tuxedo Mask, holding his staff. He also chose this time to not wear his hat or mask, again. He walked around with caution. He then suddenly heard familiar but somehow changed voice, and he gasped.  
  
"Ha, you looking for something Tuxedo Mask...?"  
  
He looked up and saw the black shadow of a girl of very, very long hair which looked like ebony and purple in the moonlight lying on the roof of Raye's main temple building with her face toward him. Her left arm was under her raised, leaning head, & her legs were almost on top of each other. The girl's face can't be seen except for her clothes, which were black leathery, revealing clothes, consisting of a black strappy top with its neckline going all the way down to the bottom of the breast line, exposing partially of the breasts. The top was connected to a very short skirt just covering the butt. Without her turning around, Tuxedo Mask already knew that her back was mostly exposed except for crossing straps intersecting each other. She was also wearing black, dainty, high-heeled shoes and has black gloves reaching almost all the way around her elbows. Tuxedo Mask just heard another familiar but somehow changed voice of a girl's.  
  
"...or are you just lost?"  
  
Tuxedo Mask then looked up and saw another girl, but she was lying sideways with her very long hair drooping in back of her with a familiar bow on her head. Her bare, thin right leg was on top of her left leg, a bit more bent forward than her left one. Her right arm was drooped over her right leg as if it were holding it. She was dressed in a black, leathery outfit which seemed to look like a low, strapless swimsuit that wraps only partially of her bottom like a bikini, except that the only difference from a bikini is that it covers about a fourth more. On her naval area, there was a big heart shaped hole exposing a large part of her naval area, and she was also wearing gloves all the way half up her biceps. The pretty young girl was also wearing a pair of strappy, very dainty high-heeled shoes. Of her "bikini-like" bottom piece of clothing, it looked like there was an immodest, very, very short piece of cloth which looks like it's covering on the borderline of her butt, but it wasn't covering the front of her. (Long and specific description, huh?)  
  
"Why do these girls feel so familiar?" thought Tuxedo Mask. He started to breathe faster. Just when he was about to take in his next breath, he heard a third girl suggest in a familiar voice,  
  
"Why don't you just give up your life...?"  
  
Once again, he turned, this time to the other building of Raye's temple on his right, with a girl which seemed to look like brunette because of the glare of the moon.  
  
This time, the girl was between the door with each of her arms (with gloves one seventh up her biceps) holding one side; the right arm curvier, sexier, and higher up the right part of the doorway, while the left arm was only a bit lower (but in the same posture as the right arm) of the left side of the doorway. Her right bare leg was bent accordingly and raised high against the doorway, and her left leg was as usual standing straight and diagonally with only the bottom tip of her boot against the lower part of the doorway. Only with the light of the moon of the night showed the clothes she was barely wearing, which what looked like of those strappy exercise jumpsuits only in tight black, and the bottom portion of the skirt was all the way up to the borderline of her butt. The tight skirt was shortened upward, meaning it's shaped like a swimsuit. The neckline was all the way down her mid-breasts.  
  
Unfortunately, Tuxedo Mask heard another voice which seemed too used to be sweet sounding;  
  
"...or even better, give up the Imperium Silver Crystal to us!"  
  
Frightened, Tuxedo Mask didn't want to dare look at the next girl, but his other instinct told him to. He spun around and saw another pretty girl behind him. Now, so far, all of the girls he'd seen were in a square. Inside, he felt like this girl has never been wearing so sexy (revealing) clothes before.  
  
The girl was at the top of the brick wall, basically wearing a costume which looked like a widely-strappy swimsuit that each of the breast-covers covers the breasts separately, with the lowest point of the breast line down at the bottom of them. The whole bottom was just a regular styled swimsuit. Also, she was wearing a pair of black gloves that cover her elbows, and a pair of V-shaped boots where the V parts go a bit up the knee. In description of texture, she was lying on her back with her head faced to her right towards him, and her arms were outstretched beyond her top of her head, each of them bent a bit, barely connecting her hands & arms. Both of her legs were bent upward a bit, with the right one bent slightly higher than the left one.  
  
Finally, the last voice said, "You might as well surrender, since there's no one left for you, especially no more of your former Scout girlfriends!"  
  
This voice shocked Tuxedo Mask so suddenly that he jumped and started to pant. He recognized that voice now; he recognized all of those female voices! How did he know? He recognized the last voice, which was Sailor Moon's (or Serena's), and who else could have been his former Scouts girlfriends. They were Raye's, Mina's, Lita's and Amy's voices. He looked up again, but the girls were gone. The atmosphere suddenly started to turn gray, cloudy, and black. Tuxedo Mask stepped backward, suspicious and afraid. Even though he was afraid, he took his courage and called out,  
  
"Sailor Scout, what are you doing? I'm only here trying to get you guys back to your normal state. I don't want to hurt you. Please, just drop this."  
  
But in his mind, he was wondering; where are the Starlights? They're supposed to be here now, and what could be taking them so long? Still, Tuxedo Mask tried to fight as much as he can.  
  
Suddenly, there was a blare of pink lightning. Tuxedo Mask bounded back, and decided that he should wait until he Starlights arrive to help him fight. He started to run back as the atmosphere turned back to normal, back in the middle of all the buildings of Raye's temple, with mostly birch trees and low grass and a cement platform. All of a sudden, he felt a striking, electrical and burning feeling on his back. The force was so painful that he fell to the ground, unable to move. He clenched his teeth and squinted his eyes in pain. He tried to get up, but felt like giving up.  
  
No, he thought, no. I can't let the Negaverse get the best of me. All of the Scouts are depending on me, and I can't let them be taken away from me.  
  
So, Tuxedo Mask fought the registering pain and pushed himself up, staggering at the time. He whirled around and threw a rose, trying to strike one of the Scouts to wear them down to be healed. It didn't work. Instead, it was Lita who caught the rose. She slashed it back at Darien, cutting his upper right arm. He yelped in pain, and grasped his cut. He applied pressure to it for a few seconds and let go, resuming the battle.  
  
"Haven't given up yet?" cried the voice of Raye's. She stepped toward Darien while he was on his back. She swung a kick and kicked Tuxedo Mask in the shoulder, preparing some orange and blue fire in her hands to throw at him. Tuxedo Mask looked up, all battered, bruised, and crying.  
  
"Sailor Mars don't! Raye! Can't you hear me? It's me, Darien! Please, you don't want to do this. Trust in your heart; you don't!" pleaded Tuxedo Mask.  
  
"Hah! I don't trust anyone!" cried Mars. She ended up throwing the fire with her skirt flying wildly, leaving Darien being thrown all over the place for what seemed like hours, which really was seven minutes.  
  
That's it; I have to take drastic action! thought Darien. But, I'm feeling so hurt and beaten that I can't fight. He dragged himself up and started to stagger away a bit.  
  
Amy's voice dared, "So feeling a hot, huh? How about some ice to cool you off!" She swirled her ice to hit Darien, and it him hard. He still felt a bit of burning of scratches and bruise on his back, but he started to feel numb all over.  
  
This is either pain or--well, pain, thought Tuxedo Mask. I'm being thrown all over, and I still haven't gotten a way to get the Scouts back. The good thing is the numbness is starting to wear off. But I'm bleeding on my head, chin, and lots more places!  
  
"Aw, is that too numb for you?" sarcastically asked Sailor Jupiter. She raised her arm a bit and created a bit of black thunder and lightning in her hand. "How about some thunder to give you back your feeling?" She tossed some of her thunder and Tuxedo Mask was "shocked" both ways. He couldn't straighten up his back, and he couldn't move. After the shock was over, he just stood there, and then collapsed on his front. He tried to move, but he was crying too hard and was hurt too badly.  
  
After a few minutes, he staggered up again, feeling the pain of one hundred men's stab wound pains all over. Every time he moved and was touched ever so slightly, he was jolting in pain. Still, he wouldn't register it and continued to fight. He stumbled away from the Scouts a bit again, but Venus noticed. She aggressively slashed one of her whips, grasping Darien's neck. Luckily, he got hold of some grasp of the whip, not letting it choke him completely. Surprisingly, Venus was strong enough to pull Tuxedo Mask to her and the rest of the Scouts, like a whip pulling a pencil. Tuxedo Mask landed on his stomach, sliding through some dust.  
  
After the dust cleared, he tried to raise his head as high as he can as he tried to look up. From foot to head, he saw all of the Scouts in their revealing clothes looking down at him.  
  
"No, you Scouts can't be evil. I know in my heart that you aren't," gasped Darien. Everything started to blur a bit, but came into shape as he noticed that there were black, upside down crescent moons on each of the girls. Each of them had aggressive and ready-to-kill glares.  
  
Mina lost her true beauty and original personality while Amy lost her intelligence and sweetness. Lita lost her sense of humor while Raye (who Darien admired and liked the most after Serena) lost her admirable courage, braveness, and aggressiveness.  
  
Venus glared down at Tuxedo Mask, and retorted, "Thought you could get away, didn't you?"  
  
Tuxedo Mask just looked at her with squinting eyes. His wound on his head bled with blood slithering down his face.  
  
It seemed so long ago that Mina use to have that sweet and--I don't mean to say this, but-- beautiful look in her eyes, thought Tuxedo Mask. He also remembered Mina's cool, sexy winks.  
  
"Mina," gasped Tuxedo Mask, "Sailor Venus, listen to me. You've just got to lis--"  
  
Mina tightened her grasp of the whip. Tuxedo Mask yelled and gasped for breath. Slowly, he stood up. He reached for his staff from his left tux inside, and took it out. He held it up, aiming it at the whip, but never got to slashed it. Mercury swung and kicked Tuxedo Mask in the head. He fell back, resting for a moment in vast pain, almost in unconscious state. Once again, he fought it and looked up, seeing that his staff was thrown away to the left of him, out of arm's length. Jupiter prepared a black thunder bolt and sent it right on the rope, zig-zagging to Tuxedo Mask's throat in a fast, medium speed (don't worry, the rope was about twelve feet long, so it would take a longer amount of time than anticipated).  
  
To be continued... (Set 2) 


End file.
